Provinces advised to adopt avian influenza averting measures
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—The Ministry of Health has advised the provincial and district Governments to adopt recommended measures for preventing and averting any outbreak of avian influenza.
According to official sources, the directions have been issued in the wake of high transmission season and the global threat posed by H5N1 Influenza virus. They said the Ministry of Health has adopted special preventive measures on the poultry outbreak of influenza in NWFP province. The viral transport medium required for the transport of suspected human samples along with related guidelines have been dispatched to the provinces and district health departments, sources added.
They said the government was also making a plan to register all poultry farms for having proper monitoring system to check any outbreak of bird flu in the country. As many as 14 suspected patients were admitted last year in hospitals of Lahore and Islamabad however their blood samples declared negative by the laboratories. Similarly, 136 samples were sent to laboratory for test and all found negative. Globally 206 deaths have been confirmed due to bird flu in 12 countries out of 335 suspected cases
Total 21 cases were reported in poultry farms last year while 76 in 2005 mainly in wild birds and commercial backyard poultry. According to health experts the virus may expand from one farm to another and to population by mechanical means like contaminated equipment, vehicles, feed, bird- cages etc.. They added the fatality rate of disease stands at 70% which is very high. 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.