Pakistan has sought technical assistance from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to assess the epidemiological effect of deadly outbreak of bird flu and to fight it out in Karachi which is under heavy attack of the disease since January 15.
In a handout issued here on Wednesday, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has refuted the news about outbreak of Avian Influenza (AI) disease in commercial poultry farms at Karachi.
It said that outbreak of bird flu H-7 strain was recorded on January 15, and since it is a virulent strain, heavy mortality was recorded in layers. A total of 1.2 million birds died and 0.5 million were slaughtered/ destroyed.
The outbreak of virus, which hit poultry business severely, has created panic among the public.
This has created challenging situation for the authorities.
A meeting of experts on birds was called by the Ministry of Food on Tuesday to review the situation arising out of the outbreak.
The ministry noted in its announcement that samples were collected from the field and tested in National Veterinary Laboratory, Islamabad, and Veterinary Research Institute, Lahore.
The handout said that both laboratories confirmed prevalence of Bird flu H-7 strain. The samples were also submitted to World Reference Laboratory (WRL), Weybirdge, UK. However their results are awaited.
Meanwhile, vaccination schedule against H-7 and H-9 strains of Bird flu were drawn up in consultation with poultry experts and poultry farmers were advised to follow the vaccination schedule and adopt strict bio-security measures.
The ministry said that disease is localised within Karachi. However, according to the handout, a request has been made to FAO to assess epidemiological situation to provide technical assistance.
It further clarified that laboratory investigation has shown that H-7 type of virus has caused the recent disease outbreak. The H-5 and N-1 strains of Bird flu are reported to cause infection in human beings.
However, H-7 and H-9 do not cause problem in human beings. Therefore, poultry and products under current cooking methods/habits can safely be used for consumption.