Poultry farms to be monitored to check Bird flu
By Bushra Makhdoom

ISLAMABAD—The government is making a plan to register all poultry farms to have proper monitoring system to check any outbreak of bird flu in the country.
Executive Director National Institute of Health (NIH) Maj. Gen. (R) Masood Anwar said addressing the participants of media retreat on 'Bird Flu Prevention and Control' jointly organized by National Institute of Health (NIH), Ministry of Health and UNICEF
He said proper surveillance system is a must to proper monitoring the bird flu situation as chances of human cases are high in the country due to lack of awareness. Maj. Gen (R) Masood said those affiliated with poultry farm industry should follow guidelines disseminates by the Ministry of Health and Livestock time to time to prevent people from bird flu virus.
He said due to inadequate preventive measures adopted by the workers of poultry farms besides human being other animals including dogs and cats may also acquire this virus which can further spread to others. He said effective media campaign is essential to create awareness among masses about the disease and its prevention. He added citizens should also regular check their pet animals which may also a major source for spread of bird flu.
Incharge Epidemic Investigation Cell, NIH, Dr. Jaleel Kamran apprised that after the recent outbreak of bird flu no human case was detected in the country during the last two years.
He added 14 suspected patients were admitted last years in hospitals of Lahore and Islamabad however their blood samples declared negative by the laboratories.
He said so far total 136 samples were sent to laboratory for test and all found negative. He added globally 206 deaths have been confirmed due to bird flu in 12 countries out of 335 suspected cases
Dr. Jaleel said total 21 cases were reported in poultry farms last year while 76 in 2005 mainly in wild birds and commercial backyard poultry.
He said a federal monitoring cell has been set up besides establishment of provincial and district monitoring cells to monitor the situation and to exchange technical information on avian influenza.
Dr. Fawad of WHO said the virus may expand from one farm to another and to population by mechanical means like contaminated equipment, vehicles, feed, bird- cages etc..
He added the fatality rate of disease stands at 70% which is very high. He added the symptoms of disease included high fever, cough, aches, running nose and sore throat while pneumonia or other complications may occur at a later stage.
He said same testing procedures have been adopted in Pakistan as being implemented in other parts of world for suspected bird flu cases. He added Pakistani laboratories have enough facilities to test the bird flu virus.
The event was attended by journalists working in health sector both from print and electronic media. Certificates were also distributed among the participants of the function held at Bhurban.