'Government on alert to face bird flu challenge'

The government on Tuesday reiterated that it is on alert to meet the challenge of virus avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. A high-level meeting was held here under the chairmanship of federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) Secretary Ismail Qureshi to review the current status of avian influenza and to take further necessary steps.
The latest World Health Organisation (WHO) warning of a new flu pandemic has sent a fresh panic wave at the official level in Pakistan to put anti-virus operations on heightened alert across the country.
The meeting was informed that Pakistan has developed a national avian influenza surveillance system with the assistance of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
The system includes central avian influenza laboratory at National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad and 12 satellite laboratories spread across the country.
During the last one-year, over 17,200 blood samples, 14,850 cloacal swabs and 1,580 tissue samples have been collected and processed in these laboratories.
So far, the meeting was informed that only H-7 type of virus has been reported in Pakistan and there is no evidence for the presence of H-5 N-I sero-type that has infected humans in South East Asian countries.
However, in view of the spread of the bird flu virus in South East Asia, China, Russia, Central Asian Republics, Turkey, Romania and Pakistan needs to be on guards.
In view of this, Minfal has approved a project for the surveillance and control of avian influenza in Pakistan.
The project will further strengthen surveillance in the poultry and wild birds to monitor the type of avian influenza's presence. Similarly, the project provides necessary measures for handling the outbreak of virus if it occurs in Pakistan. Bird flu has swept through poultry and wild birds in Asia since 2003. It has killed huge numbers of birds and lead to more than 60 human deaths.
A bird flu outbreak in Pakistan towards the dying end of 2003 caused major losses to the poultry industry of the country. It forced a volunteer culling of more than two million chickens in Karachi alone.
No human causality was, however, reported. The government, throughout the crisis, kept on denying the reports of virus outbreak in a desperate attempt to save the industry from losses.