February 22, 2007

Afghanistan officials cull poultry after bird flu outbreak

Afghan authorities were culling poultry after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in chicken in an eastern Afghan city, a UN official said Wednesday (Feb 21).

Bird flu was reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, said Serge Verniau, the country representative of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in Afghanistan.

Samples of chicken in the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad were found to have the H5N1 strain, while the exact type of the outbreak in Kunar has yet to be confirmed, Verniau said.

Afghanistan reported its first outbreaks of H5N1 in March and April last year in the capital Kabul and the provinces of Kapisa, Logar and Nangarhar. There have been no reported infections of humans.

The latest Afghan outbreak was reported a day after authorities in the neighbouring Pakistan closed a zoo in the capital Islamabad after lab tests confirmed H5N1 in its peacocks and geese.

"We do not know whether it is the same strain as the one which appeared in Pakistan," Verniau said.

Afghanistan is in crossroads of migratory birds and there are lot of exchanges of goods between countries of the region, he said.