Five poultry farms found to have deadly bird flu

Karachi: The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in at least five commercial poultry farms in the country, agriculture authorities said yesterday.

Mohammad Afzal, livestock commissioner at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said samples taken from three poultry farms in the southern Sindh province and two in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) tested positive for the H5N1 strain.

"Two or three days ago we found traces of the H5N1 virus in small poultry farms in Sindh and NWFP. We have culled all the birds at these farms and disinfected the area," Afzal said.

He said quarantine and vaccination measures were also being used in and around the affected farms.

Healthy

"We have conducted tests on those who worked on the farms and they are healthy. There is no sign of any bird flu," Afzal added.

Pakistan found its first H5N1 strain of the virus in February last year in NWFP and subsequently culled about 40,000 birds.