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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani scientists have found the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in a small flock of chickens near the capital, Islamabad, an official said on Tuesday, almost a year after the virus was found in poultry flocks.
Mohammad Afzal, Livestock Commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture, said all the chickens in the flock of about 40 birds at a house in Rawalpindi, a city adjoining Islamabad, had died or been culled.
"They tested positive for the H5N1 strain," Afzal told Reuters. "It has been contained and there is no danger of the spread of this virus because there are no poultry farms near this house."
Pakistan's first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu were found in chickens in February last year in North West Frontier Province. In all, about 40,000 chickens were culled.
There have been no human cases in Pakistan.
Altogether, the virus has killed more than 160 people in 10 countries and scientists fear it could mutate into a strain that spreads easily among people, triggering a pandemic that would sweep the globe.
- REUTERS
