RAWALPINDI, April 28: The outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain is feared to sweep Attock following confirmation of the infection at a poultry farm in Sarwala.

Official sources told Dawn that there was no mechanism available with the Attock district government to carry out surveillance or control the deadly infection. The district government even does not have any official to deal with the livestock or the poultry matters.

The sources said that the Attock district government had not approached the federal and the Punjab governments for assistance to control the further spread of the infection. It was also learnt that the Punjab Livestock Department and the Poultry Research Institute (PRI), Rawalpindi, had dispatched teams to Sarwala which had culled about 3,000 birds.

Attock district is estimated to have 0.4 million birds at dozens of poultry farms in addition to those in the rural areas. The sources said that while the outbreak of bird flu began to travel from Islamabad to other places, the silence of Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) was very mysterious.

The sources said that the district government and Pakistan Poultry Association should take steps to check any possible outbreak of the infection in other areas.

They were of the view that Pakistan Poultry Association should launch a media campaign to guide the poultry farmers about the preventive measures in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Islamabad district administration and the Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi, were jointly carrying out clinical surveys in Sihala, Tarlai and Alipur Farash, where no fresh outbreak of the viral had so far been reported.