Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23 - February 16th

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

18 teams formed to cope with Bird Flu in Pakistan

'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau

ISLAMABAD: Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Friday high alerted all the concerned departments after confirmation of Bird Flu?s presence in Karachi while a radius of one kilometer area around the affected poultry farm in the city has been quarantined.

Commissioner Animal Husbandry, MINFAL, R.H. Usmani said that 18 teams have been formed across the country to cope with threat of Bird Flu. They have been provided special dress, glasses, gloves and spray, he added.

He said one kilometer area surrounding the affected poultry farm in Gadap area has been sealed and the transportation in and out of the farm has been prohibited.

Samples from one more poultry farm in Gadap have been arrived and their report will come out by tomorrow.

Commissioner Animal Husbandry said all precautionary measures have been taken after consulting the matter with Islamabad?s Administration.

He said birds that fly into the country from Russia every year in February carry along with them the Bird Flu virus.

An earlier report from Karachi had said that the Sindh government has confirmed the presence of bird flu virus in poultry farms located in Karachi's Gadap area.

Talking to Geo News, Sindh government's Poultry Research department director Dr.Ali Akbar today announced that the deadly H5N-1 strain of bird flu has been identified in Gadap and 5,000 chickens have already been culled.

Earlier, the department had sent samples from the poultry farms to the National research lab in Islamabad to confirm the presence of the highly contagious avian influenza.

The emergency has been declared in the hospitals across the province and isolation wards have been set up hospitals at Tehsil and District level in the wake of the confirmation of the bird flu in a Gadap Town poultry farm.

The City District Government Karachi Friday took action on a poultry farm suspected to have been infected by bird flu and buried more than 2,000 birds in a 100- feet deep trench while the farm situated in Gadap Town has been sealed by the authorities.

However, hundreds of birds were found dead in Thatta and Badin districts. The chickens were killed in poultry farms suspected to have been infected by H5N1 bird flu virus.

And, a report from Peshawar says that Department of Livestock has been issued special instructions for keeping a strict watch on Bird Flu in NWFP.

Secreatary Agriculture Arbab Shahrukh said it was also decided to shift the poultry farms away from densely populated areas of Abbotabad and Mansehra.

Blood samples of chicken are being gathered from poultry farms across the province, he said, adding teams at district level had also been set up to take stock of the situation at poultry farms in each district.

Arbab Shahrukh told the shifting of poultry farms from populated locations will be undertaken after ensuring all necessary facilities at the new locations.

Instructions are also being given to the people associated with poultry industry that all precautionary measures be taken while killing the infected birds. He said one person died in December last year by contracting fatal H5N1 virus.●

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2008/02/02/top5.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Bird flu strikes Karachi farms

IRFAN MALIK
KARACHI - Authorities on Friday confirmed the deadly bird flu virus at two poultry farms situated at Gadap town of provincial capital.
?Around 5,500 chickens have died at the poultry farms due to the deadly virus, while around 500 chickens have been culled by authorities concerned,? Karachi Wholesale Poultry Association Secretary-General Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui said.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza had been found in samples taken from birds that died in the farm, Siddiqui added. ?After the detection of bird flu virus, teams culled the remaining chickens the poultry farms whereas neither a single case of presence of deadly virus was detected at several other poultry farms located at Gadap town nor at any other poultry farm across the city,? Siddiqui said, adding that not even a single case has reported yet about the jumping of deadly virus into humans. Moreover, the Sindh government sealed all farms within a radius of one kilometre to prevent further spread of the disease.
Caretaker Chief Minister Sindh Abdul Qadir Halpota issued directives to the city government and live stock department to take all precautionary measures to control the outbreak of bird flu virus across the Sindh, a press note issued by CM?s Secretariat, Sindh said.
The CM in his statement also emphasized on the authorities to provide guidelines to people in order to avert the further spread of the virus across the province. However, the authorities concerned have taken several measures including providing gloves to workers and conducting regular health check-ups for them.
?More or less 0.4 million chickens are needed to fulfill the per day meat demand of the city, in accordance with the total population of the city the chicken meat demand stands at two percent as compared to 10 percent demand of the other populated cities of the world that reflects considerable decline in the demand due to the first outbreak of bird flu virus in 2004 in the city, since ever no investment has came to the poultry industry,? Siddiqui pointed out. He said that poultry industry across the country had incurred losses worth of billions after the first outbreak of the deadly virus. Many investors had ejected their investment due to the escalating fears emerged after the detection of bird flu.
Sources in poultry industry said that due to the massive coverage from both electronic and print media about the presence and danger of flu virus the poultry industry damaged immensely and investors had transferred their investment in other sectors.
Alarmed by the resurfacing of bird flu virus, the federal health managers have put all the relevant departments across the country on high alert and constituted 18 teams of experts to counter the deadly ailment.
?We have constituted 18 fully equipped teams with special dresses, glasses, gloves and protecting sprays. These teams will visit the poultry farms to spray, collect blood samples and dispose off the dead chicks,? Commissioner Animal Husbandry R H Usmani told The Nation. He informed that the security measures have been taken in Islamabad after the long negotiations with the administration. The farms have been sealed off and officials began culling around 10,000 chickens, RH Usmani added.
Following confirmation of bird flu virus in Karachi, emergency has been declared and isolation wards have been set up in all government hospitals in Sindh.
Sindh DG Health Dr Abdul Majeed said that a 4-member committee had been made on district level to examine all poultry farms in the province and steps have been taken at all government hospitals to ensure precautionary measures and in time diagnose of bird flu virus. ?Our medical teams have put them under observation,? Abdul Majeed said. ?We may quarantine them if it is necessary,? he added. Health authorities said they were monitoring at least 15 poultry workers from the two farms.
Meanwhile, Hundreds of chickens have died in several poultry farms in Thatha and Badin. The samples taken from the deceased chickens have been sent to Islamabad for medical examine.
Pakistan recorded its first death from bird flu in December when a man died in NWFP. A brother of the victim also died before being tested for the virus. Both had worked on a cull of infected poultry. Another five people were infected but recovered. Worldwide the H5N1 virus has killed more than 200 people.

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2008/2/index1.php

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><H2 class=mainnews>Bird flu strikes Karachi</H2></TD></TR><TR><TD>Saturday February 02, 2008 (0943 PST)
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

KARACHI: Laboratory tests on Friday confirmed the existence of H5N1 strain of bird flu in one poultry farm in Karachi?s Gadap Town, prompting the health authorities to conduct medical examination of poultry workers. However, the virus was not found in humans, health officials said.


At the same time, doctors said that there was little chance that the disease could be passed on to common man though poultry farm workers, should they fail to take preventive measures, were more at risk.
?Laboratory tests were positive and we immediately culled the 1,000 remaining birds,? said deputy secretary health, Sindh, Dr Shakil Mullick. Samples from one poultry farm located off the Super Highway were taken on Tuesday and sent to the Health Ministry in Islamabad to detect the virus.
Special secretary health, Dr Capt Abdul Majid, said that they had screened workers of around 16 poultry farms but no human infection case was found. However, he said as a precautionary measure, three workers of a poultry farm were put under observation at an isolation ward of the Civil Hospital, Karachi.
Dr Aslam Jalali, the provincial official on bird flu, said the virus was found on one farm only, which had been sealed after completing a joint operation, conducted by teams of the provincial Health Department, the Livestock Department, the City Govt and the Poultry Research Institute, respectively.
He said that 80 per cent birds of the farm had already died and they culled the remaining 20 per cent birds on scientific basis. He admitted that they faced some ?problems? when the teams tried to examine other poultry farms as precautionary step but later these were resolved.
Director Poultry Production and Provincial Coordinator, Dr Akbar Ali Soomro, said on phone that the report of the National Reference Laboratory of the Ministry of Health, which was received here on Friday at 11:00 am, confirmed that broiler chicken of one of the farms of the Gadap Town had H5N1 and the Newcastle disease.
Newcastle is also a highly contagious, generalised virus disease of domestic poultry and wild birds characterised by gastrointestinal, respiratory and nervous signs. He said so far this was the only farm where the deadly disease had been detected and they had ordered all poultry farms to ensure vaccines for chicken.
The caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh, Justice (retd) Abdul Qadir Halepota, instructed the City Govt and the Livestock and Health departments to take immediate steps to control bird flu in the province on a priority basis and cull all infected chicken. He said the people should also be informed about the precautionary measures in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
A City government spokesman said on the instructions of the Nazim, the local administration culled over 2,000 chickens and buried them 100-feet deep in earth. He said a special team, led by EDO Agriculture, was sent to the infected poultry farm and it took all precautionary steps after examining the farm. The spokesman said the city government?s team conducted a raid on the farm near the Super Highway and culled chickens while spray was also conducted there. Spray was also conducted in the surrounding areas spread over two kilometres in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Similarly, spray was also carried out on other poultry farms.
The City Nazim also instructed the EDO Health to conduct complete checking of all poultry farms in the metropolis. EDO Agriculture Mohan Lal said a survey of all poultry farms was being conducted and immediate action would be taken if bird flu was detected anywhere. He said the City government had not received the supply of any infected chicken in the city areas while the checking system was being further upgraded.
Meanwhile, Central Secretary General of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Dr Habib Rehman Soomro, alleged that poultry farms association was hiding facts from the people, which would be harmful for health.
He claimed that the poultry farm owners were not following the prescribed measures like providing masks and gloves to their workers who were at high risk of infection. He said on Friday, poultry farm owners had ?deliberately? increased the price of chicken in order to hoodwink the citizens as in the past, the prices had gone down when the virus hit the city. He asked the officials to take all possible measures as human infection would be extremely dangerous.
Member Executive Committee, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Dr Qaisar Sajjad said there was no harm in the use of chicken as part of diet. He said research had proven that the virus was killed at 80 degrees Centigrade. ?Generally, we cook food at 100 degrees Centigrade and there is no chance that the virus can survive at that temperature. However, the people should be careful while eating barbeque and only fully-cooked barbeque should be eaten,? he said. He said there was no confirmation that eggs might spread the influenza. However, the use of half-fry and half-boiled eggs should be stopped as a precautionary measure.
He said the people must see the bird first before slaughtering. He said only healthy chicken should be purchased and customers should make sure that the ones picked by them were slaughtered before their eyes.
Dr Sajjad said workers of poultry farms had more chances of catching the disease. He said workers should use gloves, glasses and aprons before entering their workplaces. The convener of Press and Public Relations Committee, Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA), Maroof Siddiqui, said the affected farm had 6,000 broiler chickens. He said this was for the first time that bird flu had been detected in broiler chicken. Earlier, this was found in layer chicken only.
He said the detection of chicken epidemic might be the result of vaccination failure in the affected farm. He said weather also mattered in this regard as last year the deadly disease had killed many birds in February and March.
The Vice President of Karachi Wholesale Poultry Association, Mushtaque Awan, said almost all the farmers had been vaccinating their flocks since the outbreak of influenza in Pakistan. Last year, 47,500 layer chickens were culled in the Gadap Town due to detection of deadly H5N1 influenza at some poultry farms. In 2003, the outbreak of bird flu had killed 3 million layer chickens at different poultry farms in Karachi. The average life of a broiler chicken is eight weeks and that of a layer chicken is one and a half years.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?196861

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02020801/H5N1_Karachi_Isolation.html

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Bird flu experts due in Karachi



<CENTER>By Our Staff Reporter</CENTER>
ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: The epidemiological response team of the National Institute of Health (NIH) will arrive in Karachi on Saturday to assess the situation in Sindh after the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) confirmed the presence of the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus in a poultry farm in the provincial capital.

?The National Reference Laboratory (animal testing) at NARC has confirmed the presence of the virus in one of the farms, while the report of the second farm is expected tomorrow,? an official said, adding that the NIH team was being sent to Karachi for assessing the situation and providing technical assistance to the provincial government.

The outbreak, which has occurred after a long break in Sindh, is the first of this year.

Last year was worse with 79 Avian flu outbreaks and some human casualties.

Most of the incidents had occurred in northern parts of the country in poultry farms in and around Mansehra, Abbotabad and Murree.

Severe cold in the areas is considered to be the main reason behind the relief in the region.

This year, however, experts fear that the infection may return to the region by end of the current month or early next month.

A senior NIH official said the Karachi outbreak reflected the vulnerability of poultry farms and the backyard poultry.

He called for strengthening bio-safety and bio-security to check the spread of the virus.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/02/nat17.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

KARACHI: Govt scramble to check spread of bird flu virus



<CENTER>By Our Staff Reporter</CENTER>
KARACHI, Feb 1: The poultry and health officials of the provincial and city governments are set to intensify the surveillance of birds and workers at farms across the city in an attempt to stop the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus following its detection at a Gadap poultry farm.

A source close to the bird flu monitoring teams of the government said that the detection of the disease, which is also considered dangerous to humans, had alarmed the authorities.

They wanted foolproof surveillance of bird flu in both birds and humans and arrangements were being made in such a way that the support of the area police could also be sought if the farmers tried to close their premises to the surveillance staff, the source added.

In the meantime, three young men who had been working at a poultry farm (Uni poultry farm) where birds died during the last few days or were culled on Friday in the wake of their contact with the virus were shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi on Friday evening.

The focal person on bird flu, a deputy secretary in the Sindh health department, Dr Shakeel Mullick, told Dawn that the persons, named Mohammad Aslam, Ghulam Mustafa and Allah Dino, had been admitted to the isolation ward of the CHK for observation purposes.

?As per initial examinations, none of the three had shown any symptoms of bird flu infection, but they would be watched for four to five days to avert any danger to them,? he said.

Dr Khalil Ansari, the Gadap Town Health Officer, said that poultry workers at a farm maintained by the Rangers near the Uni farm were physically examined by doctors on Friday as a precautionary measure.

?Following reports that birds at the Uni and Rangers? farms had been suspected of being exposed to some deadly virus, we have started monitoring the poultry workers in the Gadap area as well, and at least 50 people were examined at various farms on Thursday,? he informed.

The Director Poultry of the Sindh Government, Dr Ali Akbar Soomro, said that since it had been confirmed that a deadly virus existed in the environment, the relevant staff of the city district government had been advised to carry out massive anti-virus procedures, including serological tests and the spray of medicines so that the further spread of viral Newcastle and bird flu diseases could be checked.

Regarding the samples drawn from the Rangers? farm, Dr Soomro said that they had been sent to the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza, which normally took 72 hours for the confirmation of bird flu in the samples taken from birds.

Till Friday morning, about 1,100 birds had succumbed to some unknown diseases at the farm in question.

?Immunity decreases in winter?

A private veterinary doctor working in the Gadap area said on Friday that immunity against diseases normally decreased in birds in the winter and that was why he had advised the caretakers of the Rangers? farm to administer some supplementary medicines to enhance the immunity status of the birds in question. ?If things do not improve in the next 24 hours, then some antibiotic preparations would have to be administered to the remaining flock,? he remarked.

The CDGK?s DO Poultry, Dr Asadullah Shah Bukhari, said that visits to other farms along the National Highway, Super Highway, Hub River Road, Gadap and Surjani towns and other parts of the city would be intensified from Saturday.

?To ensure a massive spray of medicines against bird diseases at farms, we are also approaching the high-ups to provide the necessary resources and machines to the staff concerned,? he added.

As for the Uni farm issue, he said that the owners had strictly been told not to carry out any new activity or poultry production for the time being at the site. ?We carried out a spray on Friday and will visit again in the coming weeks to ensure a complete disinfection of the place,? he added.The owner of Uni poultry farm told Dawn in the evening that his premises had been sealed by the government officials after completing the culling operation. He said he had to suffer a loss of about 12,000 birds that existed in two flocks due to the bird flu virus.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/02/local1.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Karachi farm hit by bird flu



<CENTER>By Mukhtar Alam</CENTER>
KARACHI, Feb 1: Hundreds of birds at a poultry farm in the Gadap area of the city were culled on Friday following confirmation of reports of an outbreak of bird flu.

Personnel of the poultry and livestock and agriculture departments of the provincial and city governments killed the birds and buried them in a dry well in a farm on the instructions of Sindh Poultry Director Dr Ali Akbar Soomro.

Dr Soomro told mediapersons in the afternoon that the National Reference Laboratory (animal testing) of Islamabad had informed him that the Newcastle disease virus and bird flu virus of H5N1 strain had been found in the samples of birds taken on Jan 28.

He said 1,000-1,200 birds had been culled by suffocating them in large plastic bags containing chemical. A case for compensation for the loss incurred by the owners of the farm would be prepared soon, he added.

Dr Soomro said that the culling was the first of its kind in the province over the past three years. The owners claimed that over 10,000 birds had died and the number increased to 12,000 after Friday?s culling. However, livestock officials said 4,000-4,500 birds had died over the past week.

Dr Soomro said that it had been established that bird flu virus prevailed in the environment of Gadap and warned that there were chances of a further spread if adequate precautionary measures were not taken by field officers, surveillance teams and poultry farmers.

Three workers who handled the birds before and after the culling were sent to the isolation ward of the Civil Hospital Karachi for monitoring.

One of the workers, Mohammad Aslam, said he had been working at the farm for about three months and had complaints of pain without flu.

Dr Aslam Pervez, the focal person of the district government on bird flu in humans, said Tamiflu pills were available for people suffering from the disease.

?We plan to set up isolation wards in some hospitals as soon as necessary equipment are received from Islamabad and personnel trained to handle affected people,? he added.

The H5N1 virus has been circulating in Asia since 1997 and it first appeared in Pakistan around two years ago. According to experts, in its present form bird flu is transmitted only through people having contact with infected birds. At least 208 people died from the virus in 2007, including Pakistan?s first case confirmed by health officials.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/02/top7.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02020802/H5N1_Karachi_Isolation_More.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Thousands poultry found dead in Karachi farm
KARACHI: At least 2500 birds found dead in a poultry farm at Super High near Karachi on Saturday. According to sources, 2500 chickens found dead at a farm, which is owned by a law enforcement agency. The staff of health department and City government reached at the poultry farm whereas live stock officials started burying the dead birds. However, bird flu virus has not been confirmed in the dead chickens but it is feared that the chickens might be affected by bird flu. http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Feb08/02/06.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Bird flu strikes Karachi farms

IRFAN MALIK
KARACHI - Authorities on Friday confirmed the deadly bird flu virus at two poultry farms situated at Gadap town of provincial capital.
?Around 5,500 chickens have died at the poultry farms due to the deadly virus, while around 500 chickens have been culled by authorities concerned,? Karachi Wholesale Poultry Association Secretary-General Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui said.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza had been found in samples taken from birds that died in the farm, Siddiqui added. ?After the detection of bird flu virus, teams culled the remaining chickens the poultry farms whereas neither a single case of presence of deadly virus was detected at several other poultry farms located at Gadap town nor at any other poultry farm across the city,? Siddiqui said, adding that not even a single case has reported yet about the jumping of deadly virus into humans. Moreover, the Sindh government sealed all farms within a radius of one kilometre to prevent further spread of the disease.
Caretaker Chief Minister Sindh Abdul Qadir Halpota issued directives to the city government and live stock department to take all precautionary measures to control the outbreak of bird flu virus across the Sindh, a press note issued by CM?s Secretariat, Sindh said.
The CM in his statement also emphasized on the authorities to provide guidelines to people in order to avert the further spread of the virus across the province. However, the authorities concerned have taken several measures including providing gloves to workers and conducting regular health check-ups for them.
?More or less 0.4 million chickens are needed to fulfill the per day meat demand of the city, in accordance with the total population of the city the chicken meat demand stands at two percent as compared to 10 percent demand of the other populated cities of the world that reflects considerable decline in the demand due to the first outbreak of bird flu virus in 2004 in the city, since ever no investment has came to the poultry industry,? Siddiqui pointed out. He said that poultry industry across the country had incurred losses worth of billions after the first outbreak of the deadly virus. Many investors had ejected their investment due to the escalating fears emerged after the detection of bird flu.
Sources in poultry industry said that due to the massive coverage from both electronic and print media about the presence and danger of flu virus the poultry industry damaged immensely and investors had transferred their investment in other sectors.
Alarmed by the resurfacing of bird flu virus, the federal health managers have put all the relevant departments across the country on high alert and constituted 18 teams of experts to counter the deadly ailment.
?We have constituted 18 fully equipped teams with special dresses, glasses, gloves and protecting sprays. These teams will visit the poultry farms to spray, collect blood samples and dispose off the dead chicks,? Commissioner Animal Husbandry R H Usmani told The Nation. He informed that the security measures have been taken in Islamabad after the long negotiations with the administration. The farms have been sealed off and officials began culling around 10,000 chickens, RH Usmani added.
Following confirmation of bird flu virus in Karachi, emergency has been declared and isolation wards have been set up in all government hospitals in Sindh.
Sindh DG Health Dr Abdul Majeed said that a 4-member committee had been made on district level to examine all poultry farms in the province and steps have been taken at all government hospitals to ensure precautionary measures and in time diagnose of bird flu virus. ?Our medical teams have put them under observation,? Abdul Majeed said. ?We may quarantine them if it is necessary,? he added. Health authorities said they were monitoring at least 15 poultry workers from the two farms.
Meanwhile, Hundreds of chickens have died in several poultry farms in Thatha and Badin. The samples taken from the deceased chickens have been sent to Islamabad for medical examine.
Pakistan recorded its first death from bird flu in December when a man died in NWFP. A brother of the victim also died before being tested for the virus. Both had worked on a cull of infected poultry. Another five people were infected but recovered. Worldwide the H5N1 virus has killed more than 200 people.

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2008/2/index1.php

[sharon sanders]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Bird flu confirmed in Karachi

KARACHI: In the aftermath of mysterious deaths of thousands of chicken since last 3 days, which were conformed as occurred due to suspected deadly viral of Bird flu and Rani Khet, both the affected poultry farms and nearby environs have been completely sealed.
The poultry farms located in the Gaddap Town located on edge of Super Highway, witnessed mysterious en masse deaths of chicken since Wednesday, and which prompted the surveillance teams of health officials and Sindh Poultry Research Institute (SPRI) to survey the affected poultry farms, and procure samples of dead chicken forwarded to (NDL) National Defense Laboratory, Islamabad.
In its finalized reports on Friday, the NDL confirmed the presence of deadly H5N1 and NDA (Rani Khet) viruses in these dead chicken, which were immediately buried in deep pits, packed in plastic bags dipped with chemicals.
The director poultry research production institute Sindh, Dr Akbar Ali Soomro has declared the first ever presence of Bird flu in Sindh region, while (it is pertinent to note that) earlier Bird Flu had been declared as prevalent in Islamabad, Abbotabad and Mansehra regions.
Culling of remaining chicken is being carried out, while a sharp vigil is being carried out in City poultry farms for early detection of the disease, with chemical sprays also being carried out.
A detailed orientation of poultry farm workers is also being carried out and directives have been given to conduct sprays and other precautionary measures upto 7 kilometers of the infected areas.

http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=123987

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02020803/H5N1_Karachi_Isolation_Wards.html

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

High alert in Pakistan after bird flu Confirmation
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service
ISLAMABAD: High alert has been declared in the whole country after bird flu confirmation in Karachi.

According to health ministry, all the hospitals have been issued the directives in this connection and isolation wards have been set up at hospitals.

The ministry sources said a programme worth Rs1.18 billion in this connection has been initiated.

The sources said that no bird flu virus is found in the flesh of poultry, adding that culling the birds is incumbent upon the district government and the district government should manage the affairs including sanitation and spray.

The sources said there are at least 25800 poultry farms and no license is needed in this regard; however, any person can open a poultry farmafter getting an NOC from ministry of livestock.

The registration of poultry farms across the country has been started.

A report from Quetta says that no case of bird flue came to the fore any where in Blaochistan, but the government as precautionary measure has asked all the district hospitals to remain high alert.

Caretaker provincial Health Minister, Ata Gul said that the doctors at Civil Sandeman and Bolan Medical Complex here have been put on high alert, while check-points have been set up at the entry/exit roads of the city, where chickens and poultry products coming from Sindh and Punjab are being allowed entry here after checking and proper vaccination.

Caretaker health minister told that his department was in league with the livestock department and effective joint safety measures were being taken against the bird flu.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2008/02/03/top11.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=heading_txtCopy width="96%" height=20>No case of bird flu at Quetta: HM</TD></TR><TR><TD class=small_txt width="4%"> </TD><TD class=small_txt width="96%" height=40>Updated at: 1435 PST, Saturday, February 02, 2008 </TD></TR><TR><TD class=small_txt> </TD><TD class=small_txt> QUETTA: No case of bird flue came to the fore any where in Blaochistan, but the government as precautionary measure has asked all the district hospitals to remain high alert.

Talking to Geo News here, caretaker provincial Health Minister, Ata Gul told this. He said that the doctors at Civil Sandeman and Bolan Medical Complex here have been put on high alert, while check-points have been set up at the entry/exit roads of the city, where chickens and poultry products coming from Sindh and Punjab are being allowed entry here after checking and proper vaccination.

Caretaker health minister told that his department was in league with the livestock department and effective joint safety measures were being taken against the bird flu. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=36522

[HenryN]

Re: Pakistan - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 23+

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02020805/Pakistan_Alert.html