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57 suspected human cases test negative for bird flu

By Zulfiqar Ghuman

ISLAMABAD: Although nine poultry farms have been confirmed for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus strain near Islamabad and over 46,000 birds have been culled to check the spread of disease, the tests of the 57 suspected human bird flu cases have all come back negative, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

“The Health Ministry has tested 57 people for bird flu virus from the affected (Tarlia and Sihala) areas and all have tested negative. The patients, suffering from fever and sour throat, were kept under observation in various hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and were tested for suspected bird flu virus but they have not been infected by the virus,” said Dr Waseem Khawaja of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). He said that the ministry had collected blood, throat and nasal swabs from the patients and tested them at the National Institute of Health (NIH).

The confirmation of H5N1 virus at poultry farms in adjoining areas of Islamabad had prompted the government to take emergency steps to check any possible human bird flu epidemic.

Dr Khawaja said that another suspected patient Haris was released on Tuesday after his tests came back negative and a woman, Rahil (34), was waiting for results of her tests. She would also leave tomorrow if she tests negative for the disease, he said.

Dr Rubina, in-charge of Medical Ward No 2 at PIMS where the patents were kept, said that the patients were all suffering from fever and common flu and had tested negative for H5N1 virus. “But we took all the precautionary measures during their stay in the hospital,” she said.

Muhammad Afzal, commissioner of livestock for the Rawalpindi region, said that his department had inspected 85 poultry farms out of total 135 farms near Islamabad and Rawalpindi out of which only nine contained chickens infected with the virus. “We plan to carry out tests at all the poultry farms,” he said.

He said the government had asked poultry farm owners to adopt defensive measures to check the spread of bird flu. “We have advised the farm owners and workers to use gloves and masks while working in the farms,” Afzal said. He said that small poultry farms were more vulnerable to the disease due to the lack of facilities.

Responding to a question, he said there were no regulations for managing poultry farms under existing laws. “There are no such regulations, but the Environment Protection Agency has formulated a plan in collaboration with the NWFP government to keep poultry farms safe from bird flu,” he said. He said the Ministry of Livestock would also introduce regulations regarding maintaining hygiene standards in poultry farms in collaboration with the Health and Environment ministries. The regulations would be prepared to protect the environment and human health as well as the interests of the poultry industry, he said.

He said that almost all the farms which had tested positive for bird flu were small farms and their owners had not taken any precautionary measures. He said that the infected farms had been sealed for three months and the government was making efforts to disinfect them. He said that the country could face a shortage of poultry products in the future because farm owners were reluctant to raise new chickens due to the fear of bird flu.

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