By DPA
Islamabad : Pakistani health officials Sunday confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu at a farm outside the southern city of Karachi.
It was the third outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the Karachi area this month, but was limited only to one farm, and no humans were infected.
“It’s a small outbreak in a isolated area,” said Maqbool Jan Abbasi, an official at Pakistan’s ministry of health, who said local authorities were slow in realizing the outbreak occurred. “The poultry people should have been more alert”.
He said provincial authorities had alerted local hospitals and dispatched health teams to the area, around 15 km outside Karachi, which is Pakistan’s largest city and financial centre.
“If they find any other evidence they will cull,” he said.