Pakistan: Bird flu claims 15 peacocks at park- Not. Newcastle disease involved

[tetano]

LAHORE – Around 15 peacocks have been expired at the Safari Park during the last seven days due to bird flu virus, authorities said on Tuesday.

The price of single peacock starts from Rs 6,000 and goes up to Rs 20,000. Safari Park, also called Woodland Wildlife Park, is located on Raiwind Road. A couple of peacocks died on Tuesday while the Safari Park Director Yousuf Paul disclosed that total 15 peacocks had been died till filing of this report. He said the disease was a common among birds but this time it was diagnosed among hens and chickens of poultry forms located in surrounding areas of the Safari Park. He said the workers in poultry farms were unaware about the consequences of the dangers of H5N1 virus. Mr Yousuf further said necessary measures were being taken to ensure safety of the workers associated to the Park.

..

Meanwhile, Jinnah Hospital Chief Executive and Principal Allama Iqbal Medical College Dr Javed Akram said the H5N1 bird flu virus is found in small flocks of chickens and peacocks and other birds in Pakistan. He said it travels by the transportation of birds and the eggs in dirty vehicles were a grave threat of spreading poultry diseases, including H5N1 bird flu.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/lahore/11-Jan-2012/bird-flu-claims-15-peacocks-at-park

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Pakistan: Bird flu claims 15 peacocks at park

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Bird flu may be rearing its ugly head again

Eight peacocks have died in Lahore mysteriously. While the cause is still being investigated, fears that it could be some strain of bird flu are being suppressed.

The fears in the agricultural sector and poultry are confirmed from the recurrences in past few months of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in in India (where thousands of birds have been culled), Bangladesh (that culled 50, 000 chickens), China (where a death in January from the deadly H5N1 has been confirmed) to across Iran (in September 2011) and as far down in Indonesia and Australia. Experts with the agriculture and poultry sectors fear that Pakistan?s Rs300 billion poultry industry faced certain threat of the pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) that knew no borders and could spread.

What makes Pakistan vulnerable to the deadly virus is the absence of any surveillance system to detectmonitor and control the virus that has mutated into more than 260 different forms from spreading in farm chickens.

Following H5N1 outbreak in 2005, the avian influenza surveillance launched at the Animal Sciences Institute, NARC at the National Reference Lab for Avian Influenza (NRLPD) was another casualty of devolution. The surveillance work at NRLPD helped control further spread of avian influenza and eventually eliminated it by July 2008. However, the early warning programme was terminated in June 2011 under the 18th Amendment.

Documents available with Dawn show that the government had allocated over Rs1.18 billion for control and prevention of bird flu.

...
from Dawn.com

http://farmingpak.blogspot.com/2012/02/bird-flu-may-be-rearing-its-ugly-head.html

[Shiloh]

Re: Pakistan: Bird flu claims 15 peacocks at park

Source: http://www.newspakistan.pk/2012/02/0...ab-government/

Bird Flu Virus, yet another challenge for the Punjab Government?
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 9:49:02 by Ahmed Babar
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As many as fifteen peacocks were reported dead at the Lahore Safari Park last month. The cause of death has not been confirmed yet however, it is believed that the killer virus, H5N1 commonly known as ?Bird-Flu? is the probable reason behind the loss of precious birds.

Sources have revealed that the virus has entered the city and is most likely to spread in the coming days. Government of Punjab has not taken any necessary measures to protect the citizens from the disease which can be lethal in the days to come...

[Shiloh]

Re: Pakistan: Bird flu claims 15 peacocks at park- Not. Newcastle disease involved

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrin...ID=93163&Cat=6

No bird flu in Pakistan
Our correspondent
Friday, February 17, 2012

No involvement of bird flu was recorded in the investigation carried out by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC)?s National Reference Laboratory for Poultry Diseases (NRLPD) into high mortality of peacocks at Lahore and Rawalpindi Zoo...

...However, the necropsy findings and laboratory reports indicated the involvement of New Castle Disease (?Rani Khait?) in the reported mortality in peacocks...