December 19, 2007	Wednesday	Zilhaj 8, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Dec 18: As poultry farms in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have come under threat following the outbreak of H5N1 influenza in Abbottabad and Mansehra, which resulted in suspected human cases of avian influenza, the Bird Flu Prevention and Surveillance Programme launched recently under the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock has failed to take any measures against the virus outbreak.

Dawn has reliably learnt that the surveillance programme located at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) has failed to carry out its work on merit, as it has been politicised.

“Its working is passive and it seems to have become victim of vested interests,” sources said.

They alleged that the problem of bird flu particularly in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Islamabad and Rawalpindi was a vaccine- induced one, as poultry farmers were being encouraged to use an unregistered locally-produced vaccine. The ministry of health has not yet taken any notice of the promotion of unregistered vaccine, said the sources.

Merely two weeks ago, a bird flu case was detected in a poultry farm at Manga near Murree, where the Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi, reportedly undertook culling of 10,000 birds and cleared the area of the virus. Interestingly, the bird flu surveillance programme was unaware of the case. Nearly twenty per cent of poultry farms in Islamabad have been closed over the past few days. Some say these have been shuttered due to the fear of bird flu, but sources close to the ministry of food say the farms have been closed due to rise in the price of poultry feed.

Multiple poultry outbreaks of H5N1 influenza have been occurring in Pakistan since 2006. This year, there have also been outbreaks in wild birds.

A majority of the outbreaks discovered have been in the ‘poultry belt’ of NWFP, particularly in the Abbottabad and Mansehra area, while cases of infection in wild birds have also been identified in Islamabad.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is providing technical support to the ministry of health in epidemiological investigations, reviewing the surveillance, prevention and control measures that have been implemented.