Pakistan: Bird flu resurfaces in capital

[Niko]

Bird flu resurfaces in capital


<center> By Our Reporter</center>
ISLAMABAD, March 21: Bird flu virus has once again been detected in the federal capital, an official confirmed here on Wednesday. ?The National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza has detected bird flu virus in two out of eight crows received from different parts of the capital,? Ministry of Food and Agriculture spokesman Dr Mohammad Afzal told Dawn.

He said these samples were received from a park, a garden and roadside, adding that some were also brought from Tarlai.

Dr Afzal said there were chances of some other wild birds carrying the H5N1 virus and warned that the people must not try to handle dead birds bare handed.

He said if a dead bird was found somewhere, it should be reported to the sanitary inspectors of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). The whole dead bird placed in a plastic bag should be sent to the Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi, or the nearest maternity hospital.

The spokesman said dead birds could be safely disposed off by deep burial wearing disposable gloves.

He said people having backyard poultry or keeping fancy birds should protect their birds from coming in contact with wild birds and get them vaccinated against avian influenza.

Answering a question, Mohammad Afzal said the detection of bird flu virus had nothing to do with chicken and it was safe to eat.

Bird flu resurfaces in capital

[hawkeye]

Pakistan finds H5N1 bird flu in Islamabad crows

Pakistan finds H5N1 bird flu in Islamabad crows

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in dead crows in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, agriculture authorities said on Thursday.

Up to 70 dead crows had been found in and around the capital recently and eight samples taken from a public park and the outskirts of the city.

Two of them tested positive for the H5N1 strain on Wednesday, said Mohammad Afzal, livestock commissioner at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

"We are telling people that if they find any dead bird on the street they should handle it with care," Afzal said.

Pakistan first found the H5N1 strain of the virus in February last year in North West Frontier Province andabout 40,000 birds were culled.

Several outbreaks have been detected in chickens in small poultry farms this year and birds have been culled.

Authorities temporarily shut Islamabad Zoo last month after four peacocks and a goose died of the H5N1 strain. Pakistan has had no human cases of the virus.

Since 2003, the H5N1 virus has killed at least 169 people around the globe and experts fear it could mutate into a form that could jump easily between people and cause a pandemic.