KARACHI, Dec 5: To prevent the recurrence of the avian influenza that played havoc last year, authorities in Islamabad and all the four provinces have tightened their belts for prevention against the deadly disease as the seasonal migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asia have already started flocking at the country’s lakeside and wetlands.

“We had recorded the latest case of bird flu in July this year,” Dr Mohammad Afzal, the National Agriculture Research Centre chief told Dawn.

“An extensive surveillance programme is going on in coordination with provincial governments to monitor avian influenza or bird flu,” he added.

An outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu at eight poultry farms on the outskirts of Islamabad and northern areas early this year had led to slaughter of about 70,000 birds.

In March, tests had confirmed the country’s first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu by the European Union's Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, England.

Since then about a dozen official laboratories have been taking samples from thousands of birds each month in addition to monitoring at district level across the country.

“Our surveillance is more in the districts where mortality of the birds is high and we test and analyse about 5,000 samples every month but so far there is no evidence of active virus now,” Dr Afzal said.

But the health authorities said the surveillance had to be intensified further as seasonal migration of birds from Central Asia, Russia, and Siberia to Pakistan’s wetlands had started that might cause an outbreak.

“The migratory birds’ season has started already and more birds would come in coming days. We will concentrate on sampling of those birds now,” Dr Afzal said adding that the authorities have to be more vigilant so that if they carry the virus we catch and isolate the infected birds instantly.

Reports reaching the authorities in Islamabad and shared with the Sindh and other provincial governments show that the owners of the farms in Hazara region, which is hub of the country’s poultry industry, sell culled birds in Afghanistan and other places, which is a dangerous trend but being practiced rampantly there.

Pakistan’s first H5N1 virus outbreak was found at the farms in the towns of Charsadda and Abottabad in February this year.

“From these areas, eggs are transported and sold in different parts of the country which also pose an outbreak threat,” said a poultry expert.

The officials, however, said danger lied at the lakeside where migratory birds amass. Dr Afzal said, “Fundamentally, we see threat where the migratory birds make concentration, particularly big lakes like Tarbela, Mangla in Punjab and Manchar and Keenjhar in Sindh.”

He said, “In Karachi, we can face a threat of (virus) transportation.”

“If effective preventive measures are not taken and sale of infected birds is not checked there is all possibility of relapsing the H5N1 in the country this season,” said a veterinary doctor.