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New H5N1 outbreak in Pakistan
16/04/2006 22:04 - (SA)
Islamabad - Authorities on Sunday reported Pakistan's third outbreak of deadly H5N1 bird flu, at a chicken farm near the capital Islamabad.
"We found about 3 600 birds dead at the farm on Friday evening. "We collected samples and conducted tests," Mohammad Afzal, spokesperson for the food, agriculture and livestock ministry, told AFP.
"The tests on Sunday confirmed it is a case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu," he said.
The strain was found at a small farm in the town of Sihala 20km east of Islamabad. No human cases have been reported.
The farm has been quarantined and samples are being collected from some two dozen other nearby poultry farms, he added. Drop in demand
The latest outbreak is likely to worsen a steep fall in demand for poultry after Pakistan's first cases of H5N1 were confirmed last month at two chicken farms in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
Authorities slaughtered 25 000 birds and sealed off the affected farms in the northwestern market town of Charsadda and the hill resort of Abbottabad.
Last month tests confirmed H5N1 in poultry in Afghanistan, while the virus has also been detected in neighbouring India, Iran and China.
The H5N1 strain has killed about 100 people in seven countries since 2003. Scientists fear a global pandemic if the virus mutates and becomes easily transmissible between humans.
More than 1.5 million people are directly or indirectly employed by Pakistan's 100-billion-rupee ($1.6bn) a year poultry industry. There are about 25&nbap;000 poultry farms across the country.
Pakistan poultry association officials say the industry has already lost about $100m, as prices plunged over 40% since last month.
In 2003 Pakistan destroyed 3.5 million birds after an outbreak of the less virulent H9 and H7 forms of bird flu.
- AFP
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