H5N1 Confirmed Again in Karachi Area
Recombinomics Commentary 04:14
February 24, 2008
The Sindh government Director Poultry, Dr Ali Akbar Soomro, said that it was good that birds had been killed voluntarily as there were chances of the dreaded virus spreading. “I was told in the evening from Islamabad that the samples sent there related to the suspected farm had been found positive for AI (H5N1).”
A spokesperson for the Pakistan Poultry Association, Maroof Siddiqui, maintained that the association convinced the owners of the Mashaallah Poultry Farm, located in the Dumlotee vicinity of Gadap Town, to destroy the leftover birds as a precautionary measure and not to wait for the Islamabad laboratory reports on AI.
Dr Ahmad Ali Memon, Medical Officer of a Sindh government hospital in Gadap, said that he had visited the difficult-to-reach poultry farm, located near the Malir River, around 7.30pm on Saturday and talked to a Mr Farrukh, who identified himself as the owner of the farm, and gathered from him that the culling of 2,600 birds was initiated around 9pm on Friday night and took a few hours to complete.
The above comments describe the confirmation and culling of H5N1 infected poultry near Karachi. This is the third confirmed farm in the area, and raise concerns about earlier reports of excessive poultry deaths in the area, as well as the sale of sick birds at wet markets at reduced priced.
This confirmation follows confirmation of H5N1 in the north, which also follow media reports of excessive poultry deaths and the involvement of a WHO team in the area (see map here here here).
These confirmations and associated activities raise concerns that the level of H5N1 in both northern and southern Pakistan is markedly higher than the four recent confirmations.
More information on the excessive poultry deaths as well as dead and dying poultry at wet markets in the area would be useful.
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