April 21, 2006

Pakistan culls 25,000 chickens

Pakistan on Thursday culled around 25,000 chickens at two farms near the capital where bird flu was detected, officials said.

Pakistan reported its first case of deadly H5N1 bird flu at two farms in North West Frontier Province in February and found the virus at another farm near Islamabad last week.

Scientists detected a mild strain of bird flu in flocks at two farms near Islamabad on Thursday and suspected that two other farms might also be affected in the same area.

H5 is a low-pathogenic form of bird flu causing mild symptoms such as ruffled feathers and decreased egg production.

Pakistan has not reported any cases of humans contracting the disease.