ISLAMABAD: The government is
making a plan to register all poultry farms to have proper
monitoring system to check any outbreak of bird flu in the
country. Executive Director National Institute of Health (NIH)
Maj. Gen. (R) Masood Anwar said addressing the participants of
media retreat on ''Bird Flu Prevention and Control'' jointly
organized by National Institute of Health (NIH), Ministry of
Health and UNICEF.
He said proper surveillance
system is a must to proper monitoring the bird flu situation as
chances of human cases are high in the country due to lack of
awareness.
Maj. Gen (R) Masood said those
affiliated with poultry farm industry should follow guidelines
disseminates by the Ministry of Health and Livestock from time
to time to prevent people from bird flu virus.
He said due to inadequate
preventive measures adopted by the workers of poultry farms
besides human being other animals including dogs and cats may
also acquire this virus which can further spread to others.
He said effective media campaign
is essential to create awareness among masses about the disease
and its prevention.
He added citizens should also
regular check their pet animals which may also a major source
for spread of bird flu.
Incharge Epidemic Investigation
Cell, NIH, Dr. Jaleel Kamran apprised that after the recent
outbreak of bird flu no human case was detected in the country
during the last two years.
He added 14
suspected patients
were admitted last years in hospitals of Lahore and Islamabad
however their blood samples declared negative by the
laboratories. He said so far total 136 samples were sent to
laboratory for test and all found negative.
He added globally 206 deaths
have been confirmed due to bird flu in 12 countries out of 335
suspected cases Dr. Jaleel said total 21 cases were reported in
poultry farms last year while 76 in 2005 mainly in wild birds
and commercial backyard poultry.
He said a federal monitoring
cell has been set up besides establishment of provincial and
district monitoring cells to monitor the situation and to
exchange technical information on avian influenza.
Dr. Fawad of WHO said the virus
may expand from one farm to another and to population by
mechanical means like contaminated equipment, vehicles, feed,
bird- cages etc..
He added the fatality rate of
disease stands at 70% which is very high.
He added the symptoms of disease
included high fever, cough, aches, running nose and sore throat
while pneumonia or other complications may occur at a later
stage.
He said same testing procedures
have been adopted in Pakistan as being implemented in other
parts of world for suspected bird flu cases.
He added Pakistani laboratories
have enough facilities to test the bird flu virus. The event was
attended by journalists working in health sector both from print
and electronic media.
Certificates were also
distributed among the participants of the function held at
Bhurban. - APP