Pakistan confirms fifth Bird Flu outbreak this week
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Pakistan confirms fifth Bird Flu outbreak this week*
25 May 2007 05:48:34 GMT
Source: Reuters
ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have detected the
H5N1 strain of bird flu at two more poultry farms on the outskirts of
Islamabad, taking to five the number of outbreaks found this week, a
government official said on Friday.
Several outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of bird flu have been found in
poultry this year in Pakistan, where the deadly virus first appeared in
early 2006. Pakistan has had no human cases.
"We have discovered two more cases in the same area where the virus was
found in three poultry farms early this week," said Food and Agriculture
Ministry official Rafiq-ul-Hassan Usmani.
Samples were gathered on Wednesday after the death of more than 3,000
birds on the two farms in the Chak Shezad area. The samples tested
positive for the H5N1 strain and authorities culled the remaining 4,000
chickens on Thursday.
Usmani said authorities had stepped up surveillance in the area, which
is known as "poultry pocket" because of its more than 40 commercial
chicken farms.
"My hunch is that birds on many of these farms are not getting the
vaccination, and the free movement of workers and birds within the area
is also causing the spread," he said.
Health officials had been sent to examine farm workers, he said.
Poultry was culled on several small farms in early 2007 after detection
of the virus and authorities briefly shut Islamabad Zoo in February
after four peacocks and a goose died of H5N1.
The WHO says 186 people worldwide have died of bird flu since the H5N1
virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2007. The virus has since spread
throughout much of Asia, parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Indonesia has the highest number of confirmed human deaths from the
virus, with 77.