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H5N1 Confirmed in Pakistan
Recombinomics Commentary
February 28, 2006
Workers killed 15,000 chickens in northwestern Pakistan after poultry at two farms tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, an official said on Tuesday.
The above confirmation of H5N1 in Pakistan is not a surprise. Although officials had mention a "low pathogenic strain" the H5N1 designation indicates it is the same highly pathogenic Qinghai strain that has been reported in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India.
The failure of Pakistan to report H5N1 in wild birds is cause for concern. Like India, which also continues to deny wild bird infections, Pakistan is near prior wild bird outbreaks at Qinghai Lake as well as the Middle East. In Europe, no country reported H5N1 on farms prior to reporting H5N1 in wild birds. Pakistan and India have significant surveillance failures, as do neighboring countries which have not reported H5N1 in poultry or wild birds.
H5N1 is in long range migratory birds which cause infections of other wild and domestic birds in their flight paths.
The large number of countries that continue to deny H5N1 infections is cause for concern.
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