Islamabad - Pakistani authorities tested 12 poultry workers
Tuesday for bird flu in the southern city of Karachi, and one woman
who suddenly fell ill after eating chicken in north-west Pakistan,
health officials said.
The workers were placed in an isolation ward at the Civil
Hospital following the detection of the H5N1 virus at two poultry
farms in Karachi's Gadap district during the past five days.
'A committee comprising Pakistani health officials and
representatives of the World Health Organization took fresh blood
samples for laboratory tests and the results were expected on
Thursday,' said Khushnood Akhtar, secretary of Pakistan's
Ministry of Health.
Thousand of birds were culled after the presence of H5N1, which
can be also deadly to humans, was confirmed at the farms.
Health workers took blood samples from a suspected bird flu
patient at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, capital of the
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The woman was admitted to hospital last week after she developed
pneumonia. Two days later she was moved to an isolation ward
established for bird flu victims.
'We have sent her blood samples for an H5N1 virus test at the
National Institute of Health in Islamabad and are waiting for the
results,' senior medical officer Dr Siddiqur Rahman said.
The NWFP has seen several avian influenza outbreaks among its
poultry population since 2006. The country's first human case of bird
flu was detected in the province late last year.
Bird flu has killed at least 225 people worldwide from 357 cases
since 2003. The vast majority of human cases come from direct contact
with sick birds, but scientists fear the virus may mutate into a
form more easily transmissible among humans, possibly killing
millions.
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