February 10, 2008	Sunday	Safar 02, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 9: The administration of the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) on Saturday released three workers belonging to a Gadap poultry farm as the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, found no traces of bird flu in samples taken from them on Feb 4.

Dr Khalid Ibrahim, official in charge of the CHK’s isolation ward, told Dawn on Saturday that samples of workers from the avian influenza-infected farm, who were admitted to the hospital on Feb 1, have been tested negative for bird flu.

He said that the NIH Islamabad had issued the final report for the admitted poultry workers, clearing them of any viral infection, including H5N1, and as such the workers, named Mohammad Aslam, Allah Dino and Ghulam Murtaza, were sent home around 1.30pm on Saturday.

Following the large-scale deaths of birds at the farm (Uni poultry farm), located along the Super Highway near the Toll Plaza, poultry and health officials had suspected an outbreak of avian influenza (AI) virus at the farm. A surveillance team of the Sindh livestock department had collected samples from the suspected birds on Jan 28 for confirmation of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

The National Reference Laboratory on poultry diseases, Islamabad, on Feb 1 informed the director poultry of the Sindh government that the Newcastle disease virus and bird flu virus of H5N1 strain had been found in the samples of birds in the farm, following which the authorities concerned culled hundreds of the remaining birds and sealed the farm for any further activity for some months, while the workers who handled the birds before and after the culling were sent to the CHK’s isolation ward on the same day.

Later, a nearby farm maintained by the Rangers was also declared affected with the deadly H5N1 virus. However, nine of the personnel handling the birds at the Rangers’ farm could not be shifted to any hospital for medical tests or observation but were advised not to move in public and remain available to a medical team of the city district government for the purposes of relevant examinations.

The District Officer (Poultry), Asadullah Shah Bukhari, said that he had asked the workers released from the CHK not to go to their infected and sealed farm and to report to their respective poultry farm owners.

Infection in crows

In the meantime, more crows suspected of having contracted AI after eating farm birds were seen dead in some parts of Gadap on Saturday as well.

A poultry official said that he had gathered from some of the farmers that crows, though relatively in lesser numbers, died on Saturday, which were later buried by them as a precautionary measure against any spread of the deadly bird–related diseases.

The official, however, mentioned that the phenomenon was similar to the previous deaths of wild birds in the vicinity of poultry farms in other parts of the city. In their efforts to protect the feed and shed birds from rodents, farmers normally used killer chemicals to eliminate the pests, and the possibility is that the wild birds have eaten such rats and died thereafter.

The Poultry Research Officer of the Sindh Livestock Department, Dr Aslam Jalali, said that the samples pertaining to dead crows collected from Gadap were tested at the Poultry Research Institute’s laboratory and had been found positive for Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). However, scientists have now decided to approach the national reference laboratory as well so that it could be confirmed whether the crows in question are free of bird flu virus or not, Dr Jalali added.

Dr Asadullah Shah said that he had already visited some villages near the two bird flu-infected farms and advised the elders to remain careful about the crows dying in their limits and ensure an early burial of those, while keeping away the children and pets from the suspected dead crows as it might be hazardous from the health point of view both in the case of birds and human beings.