RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD, April 21: The outbreak of bird flu in the federal capital’s poultry farms is on the rise as two more patients were admitted to the hospitals of the twin cities on Friday to test the incidence of avian influenza taking the total number of such cases to nine.

However the health ministry officials said no H5N1 strain has been detected so far anywhere in the country.

About 10,000 chickens were culled on Friday, bringing the total to 29,000 during the past two days.

During the past 48 hours, the deadly H5N1 strain has been detected at nine farms in Tarlai and a farm in alipur Farash. There are some 60 poultry farms in Tarlai.

Two more cases from the same area were under investigation at the Poultry Research Institute (PRI) laboratory in Rawalpindi, official sources said.

A suspected bird flu patient was admitted to Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH) on Friday.

Dr Irshad and Dr Abbas told Dawn that Mohammad Naveed, 21, worked as a poultry handler near Committee Chowk. They suspected that the man had contracted avian viral infection from the poultry flock, though he had not eaten chicken.

The patient, they said, had 102 degree centigrade fever with cough and flu. He was kept in the VIP medical ward, specially set up for bird flu patients.

Blood specimens, throat and nasal swabs of the patient were sent to the National Institute of Health to ascertain whether he had contracted avian influenza.

The physicians said the patient had been given medicines like Narbic, Nafcin and other anti-viral capsules.

Another bird flu patient was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday, which has so far received seven such cases, sources told Dawn.

The sources said the patient, Mohammad Haris, 13, was brought to the hospital from Sihala. The child had fever with cough and flu.

Blood specimens, throat and nasal swabs of the patient were sent to the NIH for confirmation of avian influenza.

Other bird flu suspects being kept in the isolation ward are Fazilat Bibi, 24, Mohammad Zahid, 4, Adnan, 13, and Sheher Bano, a minor.

However, three other patients, Halima, 8, Saad Wali, 22 and Khadeja, were discharged after they tested negative for avian virus.

Early this week, the deadly H5N1 strain was detected at a poultry farm in Sihala, where situation was now under control.

The first two cases were detected in February in two poultry farms of Charsadda and Abbottabad in the Frontier province.

Dr Mohammad Afzal, spokesman for the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, told Dawn that samples were taken from every poultry farm in the affected area to keep strict vigilance in the area.

All poultry workers have been evacuated from the area and no human infection has been reported. It has been learnt that the entire affected area has been cordoned off.

It has also been learnt that the federal government is considering to give compensation to the owners of the affected farms.

The situation was reviewed at a meeting held in Islamabad on Friday, and it was decided to put a temporary ban on the mobility of birds from the affected areas.

Representatives of Pakistan Poultry Association also attended the meeting called by chief commissioner Islamabad.

A disease specialist told Dawn that a dangerous situation was emerging, and the government had to take decisions on emergency basis to control the bird flu pandemic that had now reached Pakistan.

Owners of two poultry farms, who had brought samples to the Poultry Research Institute, alleged that the outbreak of bird flu was a reaction of the vaccines imported by Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA). The association forced farmers to vaccinate flocks with imported medicines, they further alleged.

Dr Mohammad Sadiq, who owns a poultry farm in Tarlai, told Dawn that there was no threat to human beings despite the outbreak of bird flu. He called for compensation to farmers who had been severely affected by the whole situation.

The Poultry Research Institute is providing advisory service and guidance to farmers to help them deal with the situation in case of an outbreak. Six teams are monitoring the situation in the affected area. Besides, 9,000 samples were being examined at PRI and, for cross check, these would be sent to the National Reference Laboratory in Islamabad.

Following the outbreak of bird flu, prices of chicken have fallen in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as majority of people have stopped eating chicken.

Federal Health Secretary Anwar Mehmood announced that no case of the deadly H5N1 strain has been detected anywhere in the country since the testing started from April 16.

It is safe to say that as of now, Pakistan has no case of H5N1 human influenza, he told reporters here at his office.

World Health Organization (WHO) Representation Dr Khalif Bile, who was also present, endorsed the statement that Pakistan was safe from the human bird flu and said Islamabad had also launched a Rapid Health Response team, which was conducting active surveillance through house to house search within three kilometres radius of the affected poultry farms and passive surveillance within 10 kilometres.

So far 40 human samples comprising throat, nasopharyngeal swabs and blood samples were collected from Sihala and Tarlai areas by the Virology Laboratory of the National Institute of Health (NIH) after the news about bird flu broke out. Out of 25, 11 samples were collected from Sihala, 14 from Tarlai of which 23 proved to be negative while two were still being investigated, Mr Mehmood said.

Fifteen new samples were received by NIH on Friday again from Tarlai which is being processed, he explained.

“Speculations always creates unnecessary panic among people and adversely affect our economy”, the health secretary said adding from April 16 till date a total of nine suspected cases have been admitted, eight at the Pims and one at the Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH). Out of eight, three patients have been discharged from Pims after laboratory results.

He also brushed aside the impression of differences between the ministries of health and food (Minfal) and said both were working in tandem but with different responsibilities.

About the precautionary measures, he said, isolation wards had been set up in different hospitals, tami flu, an oral medicine for human had been stocked while the entire protocol associated with the handling of bird flu outbreak was in place.

The government has also allowed six local companies to produce tami flu, of which three have started producing the vaccine, he said. To get tami flu from the international market was not possible since these were booked till 2007, he added.

There is no evidence in the world to suggest that humans contract bird flu by eating cooked chickens though strain can transmit into human body by handling the affected bird or having contact with bird secretions.