This study was carried out among farmers who raise poultry in Abia State, Nigeria, to determine the socio economic characteristics influencing their awareness of avian influenza. Three hundred and sixty poultry farmers were selected using multi-stage sampling procedure for the study. Data were collected by the use structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Results showed that 73.30% of the poultry farmers in the state were merely aware of the bird flu disease, while 26.7% of the respondents were not aware. A majority (87.5%) of the farmers knew only one to three of the ten symptoms of bird flu. Age, sex, level of education and extension contact were highly significant (P<0.01). The coefficients of household size and membership of cooperative society were also significant (P<0.05) implying that these variables were important determinants of the level of awareness of bird flu disease and its control methods. Thus, development and planning of avian flu awareness strategies should take cognisance of these factors that affect the farmers’ level of awareness to ensure that they receive adequate information on the avian flu scourge.
