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Dumping infected chickens: Improper disposal could lead to bird flu in humans

* Rs 22 million allocated for bird flu vaccine
* NIH tested 480 human blood samples for bird flu

By Shahzad Raza

ISLAMABAD: The ministries of Health and Food and Livestock have taken serious notice of dead chickens being dumped in open spaces by some retailers and warned that such acts of negligence might result in transmission of bird flu to humans.

The ministries said that humans might catch the disease from the infected dead fowl thrown in the open by poultry sellers. They urged upon the sanitation and other departments concerned of provincial and district governments to ensure proper monitoring. There were reports from Rawalpindi and a few other cities that dogs and cats were found dead after eating dead chicken dumped on piles of garbage.

Dr Muhammad Afzal, the animal husbandry commissioner, told Daily Times that there was a need to educate the retailers not to throw the dead chicken in the open. He said it was the responsibility of the district governments to educate the chicken retailers about the proper manner to get rid of the infected poultry. He added that his department had already asked the authorities concerned to check against the negligence of the poultry workers and butchers.

“Dumping dead chickens in the open is extremely harmful to humans irrespective of whether the chickens are infected with bird flu. The dead chickens must be culled or properly buried,” he said.

Replying to a question about local production of anti-bird flu vaccines, he said that laboratories in Lahore and Karachi were given Rs 22 million for local production of the vaccine. Karamat A Karamat, the executive director of the National Institute of Health (NIG), said that NIH had so far tested 424 human blood samples, which had all come out negative. He said no case of bird flu in humans had been confirmed anywhere in the country.

He said the blood samples of the poultry workers of infected farms were obtained by the NIH and all of them tested negative for bird flu. He said the ministries of Health and Food and Livestock would maintain close coordination to monitor the situation. Dr Birjees Qazi of the NIH said the dumping dead chickens in the open must be checked by the authorities concerned.

Dr Wasim Khawaja of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) said the infected fowl should either be culled or buried at least 1.5 metres under the surface. He said people’s access to the place of burial should be restricted for 10 to 15 days.

He said that scavengers were especially vulnerable to the disease if the infected chickens were dumped on garbage heaps. He added that so far eight patients suspected of bird flu were admitted to PIMS. He said five of them were discharged after being kept in the isolation ward, while three were still under observation. Those under observation included Harris and Adnan from Sihala and Sher Bano from Dir.

He said the patients were treated with antibiotics, adding that Tamiflu would be administered to the patients if they tested positive for bird flu. Dr Hassan Saroosh, a senior official of Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA), admitted that some retailers were dumping dead chickens in open garbage sites. He said there were reports that several chicken died on the way to the butchers’ from poultry farms.

He said the PPA had proposed selling chicken meat instead of live chicken. “But the proposal may not work because a large number of people want to buy live chickens. Around 98 percent of buyers purchase live chicken, while only two percent prefer frozen chicken meat.” He said that since February 27, the poultry industry had suffered losses worth Rs 3 billion. The government had not compensated poultry workers, he said, adding that the authorities concerned had promised to give 70 percent of the price of a chicken. He said mass vaccination of chickens with the support of federal and provincial governments was required throughout the country.

The PPA official said that 80 percent of the poultry business in Pakistan was being controlled by 12 big companies. He said the remaining 20 percent was owned by small scale farms.

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