- New Bird Flu Outbreaks In Pakistan - Farm Conditions
Contributed
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- Hello Jeff - Avian diseases will spread throughout
Pakistan and beyond if conditions at farms are not changed. The following
depicts a deplorable situation.
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- "Dr. Sajjad said workers in poultry farms were unaware
of the dangers of bird flu and they lacked proper training to handle
sick and dead
- birds, adding that in poultry farms there were no arrangements
to keep healthy birds away from the sick ones. He said that vehicles transporting
eggs and poultry from poultry farms to markets and shops were highly
contaminated with bird saliva and excrements, and that these vehicles
were rarely washed. In addition, transportation of birds and eggs
in these dirty vehicles was a grave threat of spreading poultry diseases,
including bird flu."
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- New Bird Flu Outbreaks In Pakistan
- 2-7-7
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- (AFP) -- After finding the H5N1 bird flu virus in small
flocks of chickens and peacocks, Pakistan reports its first two cases in
almost a year, said officials.
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- Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry spokesman, Mohammad
Afzal, said all the chickens in a flock of 40 birds had died after the
deadly virus was detected in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.
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- "The virus was found in domestic poultry in Rawalpindi.
Eighteen birds died and tests confirmed they were infected with H5N1 virus,
the rest of the birds were then slaughtered," he told AFP.
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- Several major chicken farms are located in the area,
however, it is believed to be an an isolated case.
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- Afzal said the virus had also been detected in a flock
of peacocks in Mansehra in North West Frontier Province. Eighteen birds
died and the rest slaughtered.
- Afzal added: "There is no case of human infection."
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- The virus has not yet been found in commercial poultry
following the latest outbreak and the government had provided farmers with
enough vaccine to protect their birds.
- Pakistan produces 4.5 million chickens annually, while
peacocks are often kept for decorative purposes and as a good luck charm
to bring their owners wealth.
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- Bird Flu In Pet Birds In Pakistan Confirmed
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- Pak Tribune
- 2-6-7
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- The presence of bird flu in pet birds has been confirmed
in a few areas of Rawalpindi and Mansera
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- According to details, 18 pet birds have been killed in
the area of Saddar, Rawalpindi, and some in Mansera due to the presence
of the H5N1 strain. It has been said that a man in the area of Rawalpindi
Saddar, has kept several birds at his house, and that 18 died due to the
avian [flu] virus. On the other hand, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture
and Livestock [Minfal] has confirmed the cases of bird flu in pet birds
underlining that no such cases have occurred from any poultry farms where
there are hundreds of hens .
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- Meanwhile, since the occurrence of bird flu in February
2006 in Pakistan, Minfal in collaboration with provincial livestock departments
and the Pakistan Poultry Association, has continued surveillance for the
disease throughout the country. The surveillance included 64 000 samples
of blood, tracheal swabs, and tissues from the dead and morbid birds.
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- In commercial poultry, vaccination against H5N1 is being
carried out at large scale, which has given good results. Since the 3 Jul
2006 (outbreak, no further outbreaks or cases of avian influenza (H5N1)
have been reported.)
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- http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?168139
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- H5N1 Bird Flu Found In Pakistan
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- Pakistan Times Wire Service
- 2-6-7
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- Pakistani scientists have found the deadly H5N1 strain
of bird flu in a small flock of chickens near Islamabad, almost a year
after the virus was found in 2 poultry flocks.
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- Mohammad Afzal, Livestock Commissioner at the Ministry
of Agriculture, said all the chickens in the flock of about 40 birds at
a house in Rawalpindi, a city adjoining Islamabad, had died or been culled.
"They tested positive for the H5N1 strain," Afzal told media.
"It has been contained and there is no danger of the spread of this
virus because there are no poultry farms near this house."
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- http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/02/07/top11.htm
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- Pakistan Medical Association Concerned Over Bird Flu
Reports
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- Dawn.com (Pakistan)
- 2-6-7
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- Showing grave concern over the reported presence of bird
flu in a cottage poultry farm in Rawalpindi, the Pakistan Medical Association
(PMA) Karachi Chapter on Tuesday [6 Feb 2007] expressed its fear that the
lack of hygiene standards in [the country's] poultry sector might spread
the deadly disease in the country. PMA Karachi General Secretary Dr. Qaiser
Sajjad told PPI [Pakistan Press International] that according to Livestock
Commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture, Muhammad Afzal, all the chickens
in the flock of about 40 birds at a house in Rawalpindi had died or been
culled as a result of H5N1. He said that Pakistan's 1st reported cases
of H5N1 bird flu were found in chickens in February last year [2006] in
the NWFP [North-West Frontier Province], where about 40 000 chickens were
culled.
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- He regretted that almost the whole poultry framing sector,
as well as shops selling chicken, were being run on unhygienic lines and
there was no check and balance to impose proper hygienic and precautionary
measures to ensure safety of poultry farm and chicken shop workers and
consumers, especially housewives who directly touch raw chicken and eggs
during cooking.
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- Dr. Sajjad said that former City Nazim of Karachi Niamatullah
Khan during his tenure had formed an inquiry committee comprising medical
experts, poultry associations, chicken sellers bodies and other stakeholders
to visit poultry farms as well as chicken selling outlets in the city to
prepare a report about precautionary and hygienic methods being adopted
by this sector. He said that the committee members extensively visited
poultry farms, poultry markets, and chicken shops in various parts of the
city and submitted a report to Niamatullah Khan in which they expressed
grave concern over the lack of precautionary measures and hygienic standards
in the poultry sector.
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- Dr. Sajjad said workers in poultry farms were unaware
of the dangers of bird flu and they lacked proper training to handle sick
and dead birds, adding that in poultry farms there were no arrangements
to keep healthy birds away from the sick ones. He said that vehicles transporting
eggs and poultry from poultry farms to markets and shops were highly contaminated
with bird saliva and excrements, and that these vehicles were rarely washed.
In addition, transportation of birds and eggs in these dirty vehicles was
a grave threat of spreading poultry diseases, including bird flu.
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- http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/07/local31.htm
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- ProMED-mail
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- This would suggest that HPAI may be the least of their
worries. Such
- poor management system assures the persistence of a range
of zoonotic
- and avian infections. - Mod.MHJ
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- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
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- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
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- Go with God and in Good Health
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