PESHAWAR (January 31 2004): The Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) has put the poultry pathologists of the Government Poultry Farm on red alert to meet any challenge in connections with the bird flu virus in the whole province.

" We are on red alert and all types of vaccines are available at the institute and we are fully prepared to face any emergency situation in the province," Dr Noor Muhammad Durrani, a poultry pathologist and in charge of Government Poultry Farm, situated inside VRI Peshawar, told Business Recorder on Friday.

He said: "The institute is responsible for manning poultry activities throughout the province."

However, he said that no case of bird flu has been reported from any part of the province.

Durrani said that the bird flu virus detected in Karachi and its suburbs are only of H7 and H9 types, which cause flu in chickens.

He said that the number of affected chicken has increased due to the chilly season. In comparison to H7 and H9 the virus H5N1, found in the chickens of Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan and China, is more dangerous and violent.

He said that H7 and H9 are not transferable to humans while H5N1 is easily transferable and is causing dozens of human deaths in far-eastern countries of the continent. Similarly, he said that cooking heat kills H7 and H9 virus and it easily becomes edible.

He said that the virus was first detected in Karachi in 1994 and 1995 and has not caused any human death.

However, he said that the H7 and H9 virus mostly affect layer and is not found in any broiler.

He said that the ratio of the killing of chicken is very nominal. He said that only 2,50,000 chickens have reportedly died of the virus saying that Karachi has 4 million chickens and Hyderabad 2.2 million.

The attack of bird flu has started playing havoc with the poultry sector of the country and the people are reluctant to use chicken and eggs, a common part of the lunch, dinner and breakfast of the people.

The reports of the detection of the virus in chicken in the country has also affected the export of chicks to Afghanistan.

The ban imposed by Afghanistan on imports of Pak poultry products is to cost local farmers nearly Rs1.4 million per day, a poultry exporter to the neighbouring country said.

Courtesy Business Recorder