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Pakistan confirms bird flu; Egyptian treated

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 09:35 CST

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Tuesday became the latest country to confirm bird flu in poultry while Egypt said a woman was believed to be infected with the virus, the country's third case in less than a week.

Bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks as it marches deeper into Africa, Europe and Asia. The United States says it is likely to arrive on its shores before the end of the year.

Fears are growing the H5N1 flu virus will mutate and pass easily from one person to another but for the moment it remains hard for people to catch it from infected birds.

Egypt's three suspected cases come from Qaloubiyah governorate, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Cairo. A man has recovered after being administered Tamiflu, but a woman died on Friday despite receiving the antiviral drug.

The woman in the latest case had handled infected birds and had slaughtered some of them earlier this month, state media quoted Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali as saying.

The state-run MENA news agency said on Tuesday that the woman's health was improving and it was hoped she would leave hospital by the end of the week.

Hassan el-Bushra, the World Health Organisation's regional adviser for emerging diseases, said samples from the latest case had been sent abroad for further testing.

The Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in the hope of preventing the spread of H5N1 which struck Israel last week. Israel has poisoned hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens in a bid to curb its outbreak.

PAKISTAN HIT

Pakistan said the bird flu virus found in two poultry flocks late last month was the H5N1 strain.

But livestock Commissioner Muhammad Afzal said there had been no other cases of bird flu since the outbreak was first reported on February 27 at farms in the North West Frontier Province and there were no cases of humans being infected.

In Pakistan, some people were philosophical about bird flu.

"Chickens have always suffered diseases. They die too. What's the big deal?" said Munir Ahmed, a 24 year-old poultry butcher in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province.

Even as Ahmed threw the carcasses in a large plastic drum, a woman asked: "What price is your chicken?"

LACK OF FUNDING

Bird flu has killed about 100 people since 2003 with the vast majority contracting the disease through contact with infected birds, particularly their droppings.

Health experts say the more the virus spreads among birds, the greater the chances of more humans becoming infected. But the battle needed urgent funding and equipment on the ground, something that was lacking in many impoverished nations.

David Nabarro, senior U.N. coordinator for avian influenza, said massive aid pledged to help poor countries tackle bird flu has not materialized and African countries and the United Nations must plug the shortfall to fund emergency plans.

Donors pledged $1.9 billion at a special conference in China in January to help developing countries strengthen health and veterinary services and boost global surveillance measures.

The spread of bird flu is reducing demand for poultry in a number of countries and leaving farmers with some tough decisions to make.

Many farmers in the Netherlands are choosing to wait rather than vaccinate poultry against bird flu because they fear a negative effect on exports.

The main Dutch poultry farmers organizations said most farmers have not started vaccinating because the biggest importer of Dutch poultry, Germany, refuses to buy meat and eggs from vaccinated animals as consumers fear possible health risk.

Preventive vaccination is voluntary throughout the country and an alternative to the requirement that birds be kept indoors to avoid contact with wild birds infected with H5N1.

(For more stories, pictures and video on bird flu see: http://today.reuters.com/News/GlobalCoverage.aspx?type=globalNew s) (Additional reporting by Amil Khan in Cairo, Antoine Lawson in Libreville and Anna Mudeva in Amsterdam)

Source: REUTERS

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