Authorities here said they have detected an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in chickens in a part of the north-west, a government official said on Saturday. The new outbreak was found in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), he added.
"Samples from a poultry farm sent to us from Abbottabad have tested positive for the virus," Food and Agriculture Ministry official Rafiq-ul-Usmani said. "We have already started culling at the farm."
The president of Pakistan Poultry Association, Abdul Basit, said the outbreaks had badly hit the industry, which he estimated was worth 200 billion rupees (around $3.2 billion). "The industry employs about 1.5 million people and losses in February alone are close to 4 billion rupees."