Health authorities in Nigeria today prepared to screen dozens of people who worked on a farm hit by a deadly bird flu strain, amid fears the virus may have for the first time in Africa spread to humans.

Authorities reported Africa’s first case of a deadly bird-flu strain, saying officials in afflicted Nigeria need help to prevent its spread on an impoverished continent poorly equipped to fight an outbreak.

THE deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been detected on a large commercial chicken farm in Nigeria - the first reported outbreak in Africa, the World Organisation for Animal Health said yesterday.