PESHAWAR, Feb 7: The provincial health department in collaboration with the veterinary department has culled all chickens of a poultry farm and other pet birds of a nearby house in Mansehra district in a bid to stop the spread of bird flu.

The health department has also directed the executive district officer (EDO), health, to keep strict vigilance on disease-related news and inform the provincial health directorate about any breakout of the disease immediately.

“We have culled all the chickens reportedly carrying H5N1 virus and pet birds of nearby backyard to stop the spread of virus to other areas,” Dr Mohammad Zaheen, deputy director, public health, said on Wednesday.

He said that all those humans who had physical contacts with birds would be kept under surveillance for some time to ascertain whether they had been affected by the disease or not.

Dr Zaheen turned down the possibility of virus transmission to other chickens of surrounding areas, but said that in case any clue about the H5N1-infected chickens was found all would be destroyed.

When asked about the number of chickens and pet birds culled, Dr Zaheen said the provincial government had given this task to a veterinary doctor. But he failed to provide telephone or cell number of the doctor, who was assigned the task to inform the media.

Dr Zaheen along with veterinary doctors from the livestock department visited Mansehra district to take stock of the situation, but refused to give more details.