Date:01/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/01/stories/2006030104441600.htm

International

Bird flu in Pakistan farms

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: Authorities in parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan on Tuesday began culling chicken after reports confirmed that samples taken from two poultry farms in the province have tested positive for H5 strain of bird flu virus. Reports from Charsadda district in the Frontier said that authorities have completed chicken cull in the district while the process has been at another poultry farm in district Abbottabad. Provincial livestock department officials have completed killing of over 10,000 chickens in a farm a Dheri Zardad in district Charsadda. At a farm in Abbottabad district, preparations have been made for killing over 16,000 birds. (Swedish authorities said on Tuesday an aggressive strain of bird flu had been found in wild ducks in southern Sweden, and that tests would likely confirm it was the deadly H5N1, AP reports.)