Karachi: Pakistani authorities culled thousands of chickens on Tueday at two farms where a mild form of bird flu had been detected, and officials awaited results from tests on whether the strain found could pose a danger to people.
"The step had been taken as a precaution and all the birds have been destroyed," said Livestock Commissioner Mohammad Afzal, commenting on a cull of around 23,000 chickens at the farms in two cities in North West Frontier Province.
"We don't want the outbreak to spread," he said. "There is no report of flu from any other farm in the country," he added.
Samples of the infected birds were being sent to laboratories in Britain to check whether they had contracted the deadly H5N1 virus.
"We are also conducting tests locally but it will take three weeks for us to complete these tests," Afzal said.
"It's better to take an international opinion as well, so we have sent the samples to Britain," he added.
Not all H5 varieties are highly pathogenic, but the H5N1 virus is particularly tenacious and poses the greatest risk to people. Scientists fear the H5N1 virus might mutate into a form that passes easily between humans, triggering a pandemic.
H5 and H7 subtypes of avian flu can start off in low-pathogenic forms when they first infect poultry flocks and mutate into a highly pathogenic form within a few months if allowed to circulate.
Fallout
Authorities close all farms
One of the quarantined farms is in Abbotabad, 125km north of Islamabad, while another is in Charsadda, 120km to the northwest.
Authorities in the Mohmand tribal agency, neighbouring Charsadda, ordered a closure of all poultry farms and retail outlets of birds, although there has been no such instruction from the central government.
Some poultry farmers culled and buried their birds while a small number of traders took their birds back to the original sellers following warnings, according to Nasir Khan, an official in Mohmand agency.
"It may be their own decision and we have not asked them to stop the sale of chickens," Livestock Commissioner Afzal said.
News of the latest outbreak hit the poultry industry immediately and prices have dropped 10 per cent as many people stopped buying chicken.
