ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: The government has put on high alert its anti-bird flu teams across the country following a warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) to the South Asian region regarding the possibility of a fresh outbreak of the fatal disease.

Sources told Dawn here on Sunday that the government took the move of putting its team on high alert days after the fresh warning from the United Nations health organization to governments in the South Asian region and Saturday's report about a 35-year-old Vietnamese woman contacting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in a poultry farm.

"The WHO's warning and now the reported case in Vietnam have sent a fresh wave of shock and fear to the government besides the poultry industry, which has yet to recover from the millions of rupees loss it suffered last year following the media blitz about the outbreak of bird flu in the country," said an official.

Anti-bird flu teams deployed in all parts of the country have been directed to guide the poultry industry in case a bird flu attack emerged in their respective areas, they said. They added that the teams had been asked to improve their coordination with the poultry industry to enable it to counter a fresh virus attack at any level and in the best possible manner.

"Three people have died of SARS in Bangkok last week. The first ever human-to-human transfusion of the virus has already been reported in Vietnam in November last year," they said.

The government has sent special anti-bird flu teams to all parts of the country more than two months ago following a WHO warning that the migration of migratory birds from Siberia to the South Asian region with the advent of winter could cause a fresh outbreak of the dangerous disease, the official said.

The outbreak of bird flu in Pakistan last year inflicted major losses on the poultry industry forcing it to cull millions of chickens in various parts of the country. In the major cities of the country people stopped consuming chickens for weeks further forcing the poultry industry to bear more losses.

In Pakistan, though no human loss of life due to SARS was reported, its repercussions proved destructive for the poultry industry. Despite the government's repeated denial of any bird flu outbreak, several countries, including Japan and China, had banned importing poultry from Pakistan.

Sources said the government feared that the poultry industry might face a similar situation if any such outbreak was witnessed again in the country. Anti-bird flu teams, they said, have been asked to pay regular visits to poultry farms and inform the authorities in Islamabad in case they witnessed any signs of the deadly disease.