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Earlier this week, Pakistani officials reported a an outbreak of the H5N1 virus in in a chicken flock at a home near Islamabad, and also in peacocks in a village in northwestern Pakistan. Today the Daily Times is reporting birds have tested positive in the capital city.
ISLAMABAD: After Rawalpindi and Mansehra, H5N1 bird-flu has reportedly resulted in the death of peacocks and domestic chickens in the federal capital.
According to reports on Friday, it has been confirmed that on February 4, four peacocks, three turkeys and 10 chickens owned by a resident of Islamabad died of bird flu.
The Health and Agriculture and Livestock ministries confirmed the presence of the virus in samples sent to them. The ministries did not give details of the owner of the birds.
Recently, Pakistani scientists found the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in a small flock of chickens in Rawalpindi.
Mohammad Afzal, the livestock commissioner at the Agriculture Ministry, said all the chickens in the flock of about 40 birds at a house in Rawalpindi had died or been culled.
“They tested positive for the H5N1 strain,” said Afzal. “It has been contained, and there is no danger of the spread of this virus because there are no poultry farms near this house,” he had said.
Pakistan’s first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu were found in chickens in February last year in NWFP. In all, about 40,000 chickens were culled. online
