KARACHI, Dec 22: No traces of the Avian Influenza Virus, commonly known as ‘bird flu’ have been found in any of the migratory bird species in Sindh, it is learnt here reliably.

According to sources, the Sindh Wildlife Department had netted six migratory waterfowl from different lakes of the province for testing to ascertain whether the deadly virus had travelled to the country along with the annual winter visitors.

Two of the birds were caught from a lake in Mehar (Dadu district), another two from the Manchhar Lake (Dadu district) and the remaining two from the Zero Point (Badin district).

The department had sent these birds to the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza, Animal Health Laboratories in Islamabad which carried out tests on serum, swab, tissues, etc., of the birds and declared that there were no traces of the AIV in the tested birds.

The bird flu, which has hit various countries, including China and Thailand, in the East and had then travelled with the migratory birds to different western countries, has created a worldwide scare, and it was feared that the virus might have travelled to Pakistan also with the millions of migratory birds coming every year from Central Asia and Siberia regions to spend winter in the comparatively warmer environment here.

A few dead waterfowl were also found at some lakes in southern Sindh — Thatta and Badin – districts, and some wildlife lovers had been expressing the fear that infected birds might be among the migratory waterfowl that had arrived here. They had asked the government to take precautionary step and carry out tests to ascertain the factual position.

A few weeks back, similar tests were carried out on the migratory waterfowl by the wildlife department in the NWFP and one of its high officials had declared that none of the tested waterfowl carried the virus.