# 1704
Apparently the chickens in Malir didn't get yesterday's good news memo from the Animal Husbandry Department of Pakistan, which read:
Friday, February 22, 2008
Bird Flu Washed Out of Valley
PAKISTAN - The Valley is free from Bird Flu and consumers need not to worry on this count as the thousands of samples collected randomly from the local poultry farms, backyard poultry, wetlands and incoming poultry stocks have tested negative for the dreaded disease.
Unfortunately, hundreds of chickens have reportedly died in Malir, near Karachi. Of course, we don't know what is behind these deaths, and won't until lab tests come back, probably on Monday.
There are other poultry diseases that could be responsible, and so H5N1 isn't the only suspect.
KARACHI: Bird flu fears hit Malir farm
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Feb 22: Reports about an extraordinary number of bird deaths at a poultry farm along the National Highway have once again sparked fears that the bird flu virus may have spread to some more farms in the city.
A good number of broiler birds were destroyed officially at two poultry farms in Gadap in the first week of January 2008, after confirmation that they were infected with the dreaded avian influenza (H5N1) strain.
Previously, it was at the farms located closer to the Super Highway near the Toll Plaza where bird deaths had been reported, while the latest deaths took place at a farm located in Dumlotee near Malir in Gadap Town closer to the National Highway.
The Provincial Coordinator on AI in birds, Dr Aslam Jalali of the Sindh Livestock Department, said on Friday that the surveillance staffers had collected samples from the birds suspected of suffering from some severe diseases for various laboratory tests, including one that was supposed to be conducted at the national reference laboratory on poultry diseases.
Replying to a question, he said that at the Karachi laboratory of the Sindh livestock department, some traces of the Newcastle disease had been found in the samples in question, which, according to him, were taken from a Dumlotee farm on Thursday.
Quoting the farmers, he said 700 to 800 birds of more than five weeks had died at the farm during the last 60 hours and had been disposed of safely.
“I have checked with the Islamabad laboratory to make sure the samples drawn from the Malir farm had been received. The result is likely due on Monday as Saturday and Sunday are holidays there,” he said.
However, other sources privy to the sample testing procedures claimed that some highly dangerous virus had crept into the farm in question and that is why for serious scrutiny samples had now been sent to the national reference laboratory. Around 4,500 broiler birds are still at risk, the source added.
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