November 23, 2005

Pakistan says no incidents of bird flu on its territory

Pakistan has analysed samples from more than 16,000 fowl and 700 migratory birds and found no traces of bird flu, including the virulent H5N1 strain, the government said Wednesday.

The country has also set up 12 labs around the country and invested PKR40 million (US$660,000) to improve surveillance and emergency preparedness in case of an outbreak, said Muhammad Afzal, an official at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

"Pakistan so far has no case of bird flu," the ministry said in a statement.

There have been several erroneous media reports of the presence of bird flu, the ministry noted. Pakistan, a country of 150 million people, borders China, India and Afghanistan.

In 2003, between three million and four million chickens in Pakistan were killed after an outbreak of the H7N3 strain of bird flu.