LAHORE, March 3: The Poultry Research Institute has completed the survey of some 5,000 poultry farms and declared that no symptoms of Avian Influenza (bird flu) have been found anywhere in the Punjab.

This was stated by experts from the poultry production department of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in a meeting chaired by Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool at Governor’s House on Friday.

The governor said that it was encouraging that the Punjab province had always remained safe from the bird flu virus. He said that there was no chance of human infection, when the poultry was free from bird flu virus in the Punjab.

The meeting was told that the bird flu virus was suspected in only two poultry farms in Charsaddah district of the NWFP. Consequently, the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, had collected samples from 12 workers serving at the two identified poultry farms. The NIH reports stated that none of the workers was infected by the bird flu virus.

Meanwhile, the federal epidemic control committee has provided the World Health Organization’s guidelines for prevention from bird flu online. The prevention guidelines include usage of plastic gloves by the poultry farm workers and poultry handlers. The public has also been asked to avoid half-boiled eggs and recommended that fully boiled eggs were safe.

The meeting was also informed that the federal government had allowed six Pakistani pharmaceutical companies to manufacture Oselta Mivir capsules for poultry workers. The usage of one capsule daily for three days help poultry workers become safe from bird flu virus.