According to a Recorder Report (February 28), massive culling of farm chickens is feared after a mild avian influenza strain (H5) hit and killed thousands of birds in two NWFP cities, namely, Abbottabad and Charsadda, in the first-ever onslaught of the lethal virus in Pakistan.
That officials in Islamabad confirmed the country had detected H5-type bird flu in chickens at the two poultry farms, pointing out that workers used poison gas to start slaughtering around 25,000 birds in the farms, following a request to their owners to kill all the birds.
However, they are stated to have pointed out that tests were under way to determine if the virus was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain. It will also be noted that the Agriculture Ministry spokesman and In-charge of Crisis Management Centre, Dr Mohammad Afzal did not rule out the possibility of it being H5N1, though it appears to be a low pathogenic strain.
Again, according to Food Secretary Mohammad Ismail Qureshi, samples from the infected birds had been sent for testing at the EU Reference Laboratory for avian influenza in England, and that its results are expected "by end of this week".
More to this, the affected farms are also stated to have been put under quarantine with a view to containing the virus.
The news report about the NWFP outbreak, appearing simultaneously with the beginning of vaccination of thousands of geese and ducks against bird flu in France, which is believed to be at risk from the virus from migratory birds, and coming at the heels of slaughter of 90,000 chickens in the Indian state of Gujarat, following detection of cases of avian influenza, will add to the urgency of the government's long awaited initiative towards bracing for the dreaded pandemic.
However, the Pakistan Poultry Association Chairman, Raza Mahmood Khursand, is reported to have said that although the industry has started acting according to instructions, the government should have awaited confirmation by the British lab, before announcing the outbreak of the virus, saying their chickens are safe but they would not take any chances with the health of the people.
On its own initiative, poultry industry had started ordering bird flu vaccine from abroad, and that it would launch a "full-blown" vaccination campaign as soon as it received the first consignment. It will thus be noted that although the government will appear to have been alarmed by recent developments in neighbouring India, it has not yet mounted yet lacking a fully co-ordinated effort with a befitting mechanism to meet the threat.
It will be recalled that in November last year, an unusually large number of migratory Siberian birds were reported to be dying at lakes and in the coastal areas of Sindh. On that occasion, the District Game Warden of Wild Life Department had also stated that a team of international bird experts would soon be reaching Badin to probe the causes of death of migratory birds. Whatever happened in the matter has yet to be made public.
That was about the time when in his opening remarks at a special meeting, organised by the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations, its President, and Pakistan's UN Ambassador, Munir Akram, had said the world was facing another pandemic, avian flu, which was spreading outside its area of emergence, and of which very little was known, except that it was a possible global threat. According him, the problem was urgent, global and crosscutting, and necessitated a sustained effort by all.
The avian flu, was a call for collective action - a call for more investment in vaccines and for action with the entire world sharing the costs. Incidentally, around the same time, in Pakistan experts at a seminar urged the authorities to brace for the threatened flu pandemic, as the virus attacking the countries in the vicinity could visit our country too, when the migratory birds, identified as possible carriers of the virus, were about to reach local woodlands.
Pakistan was then stated to have developed a national avian influenza surveillance system, with the assistance of Food and Agriculture Organisation. The system included a central avian influenza laboratory at National Agricultural Research Centre, in Islamabad and 12 satellite laboratories across the country.
Minfal had also planned to strengthen surveillance in the poultry and wild birds to monitor the type of avian influenza's presence. One hopes that effort now begun will be seriously pursued as, from all indications, time has come for us to brace for a global threat in line with the other countries and international organisations.
Comments
Comments are closed.