KARACHI, Jan 30: The federal health ministry, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, has appointed the director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre as the focal person in the city for surveillance of bird flu , which has claimed more than three million chickens in the last three months.

JPMC Director Prof Kazi Abdul Shakoor informed newsmen at a briefing on Friday that a committee had been set up to look into the problem. An Epidemic Investigation Cell had also been established at the National Institute of Health.

"Every case involving the transmission of the disease to humans is supposed to be reported to this cell in NIH, Islamabad," the professor explained. The Karachi-based committee, on the other hand, was supposed to determine whether the poultry disease was spreading.

The disease might transmit from one poultry farm to another through machines and clothing, he said. "One piece of machinery having the contaminants, if transferred to another farm, may cause an outbreak there. So extreme care should be taken before equipment and machinery are transferred from one farm to another."

Prof Shakoor told the newsmen that a person afflicted with the disease would have fever, sore throat, cough and in extreme cases the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). A person having this syndrome may die."

He admitted that the country had limited capability to detect and isolate viruses. "But we don't have to remain confined to the labs in the country. We can send the samples abroad for verification. And this has already been done in this case."

Answering a question, Prof Shakoor clarified that no case had been reported from anywhere in the country that involved a human being. "Even though this disease may be 100 per cent fatal for poultry birds, no case has been reported in which a person had fallen sick. Similarly, person-to-person contact has also not been recorded yet."

Responding to a question, Prof Shakoor said the other members of his surveillance committee were Dr Nadeem Rizvi, Dr Jamal Ara and Dr Mubashshir. The team did not have an epidemiologist at the moment for which the search was on.

The professor concluded by saying that it was vital for the country to stop the disease in its tracks. "If we allow the bird flu, through our negligence, to mutate with human influenza for some time, we may have an epidemic on our hands.

"That's why precautionary measures are needed right away." Meanwhile, doctors taking part in a meeting of the New Acute Infectious Diseases Monitory Cell have declared that the outbreak of avian influenza in and around Karachi involved H7 and H9 strains which do cause disease among human beings.

Dr Capt Mirza Raza Ali, Prof Salahuddin Afsar, Dr Ashraf Sadiq, Dr Shafqat Fatima, Prof A.A. Qureshi and Maroof Siddiqui suggested steps to control the spread of the disease. These steps include: elimination of the affected birds; burial and disinfection of the dead birds; spraying of disinfectants in and around poultry farms; ban on the transport of the sick poultry; and, use of gloves and masks by the poultry workers.

There is no need to panic in the wake of the recent outbreak of avian influenza. Instead, efforts should be made for creating awareness among the masses so that they understand the situation well, adds APP.

This was stated by the Chairperson of the Karachi University's Department of Microbiology, Prof Shahana Urooj Kazmi. She advised the people not to consume raw eggs and raw or half-done and bleeding chicken tikkas.

She also suggested that all infected birds be killed and their carcasses incinerated. Scavengers should not be allowed to feed on them. The virus might be transmitted through bird faeces, droppings, secretions and saliva.

Giving details regarding the recent outbreak, Dr Shakeel Babar said so far the infection had been detected only in layer birds and the causative strain is H7 which is not as lethal as the H5N1 strain which was involved in the outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam.

Dr Shafqat Rehmani said the poultry farmers should not panic, as protective vaccines are available locally. All they needed to do was make sure that their birds get proper vaccination because the current outbreak was reported mostly from the farms where the birds were not vaccinated properly.

Most of the participants said a majority of the poultry farms in the city were ill-equipped to control the outbreak. The chicken handlers had no training to vaccinate the birds and to protect themselves from the infected birds by using goggles, masks and gloves.