Suspect H5N1 in Karachi Area
Recombinomics Commentary 14:00
February 23, 2008
Reports about an extraordinary number of bird deaths at a poultry farm along the National Highway have once again sparked fears that the bird flu virus may have spread to some more farms in the city.
Replying to a question, he said that at the Karachi laboratory of the Sindh livestock department, some traces of the Newcastle disease had been found in the samples in question, which, according to him, were taken from a Dumlotee farm on Thursday.
Quoting the farmers, he said 700 to 800 birds of more than five weeks had died at the farm during the last 60 hours and had been disposed of safely.
The above comments strongly suggest H5N1 has re-emerged in the Karachi region (see map here here here). Although Newcastle Disease was mentioned in the earlier outbreaks, the birds were H5N1 positive. The above comments suggest the same situation may exist in the current outbreak.
The detection of Newcastle disease in areas that subsequently test positive for H5N1 has been reported previously. The reports were common in east Asia in 2003 and 2004 in Indonesia and China. More recently most countries in Europe and the Middle East which acknowledge H5N1 in early 2006 reported Newcastle Disease in late 2005.
The large number of dead birds and the H5N1 testing suggest H5N1 will once again be reported on farms in or near Kararchi.
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