Fears of water contamination by unsupervised culling in Malir
Experts have called for a better surveillance of poultry birds and use of a foolproof mechanism for the detection of the Avian Influenza virus. They regretted the recent elimination and disposal of hundreds of birds suspected to be infected with the H5N1 virus at a Malir farm was carried out under no official supervision. The poultry farmers' association maintained that the owner of the affected poultry farm, Mashallah Poultry Farm, had been persuaded to cull his birds kept in a farm in the jurisdiction of the Malir cantonment board at the earliest. He had been told time was of the essence in containing the outbreak. Health and poultry officials said they remained helpless in taking measures on a war footing as they were not taken into confidence as soon as an outbreak was reported. Following reports about bird deaths in a large number at a poultry farm on the National Highway, the surveillance staff of the Sindh livestock department collected samples from birds suspected to be suffering from some severe diseases for various laboratory tests on Feb 21. The news that the samples had been tested positive at the national reference laboratory in Islamabad for the H5N1 virus was received in Karachi on the night of Feb 23. Those officials responsible for culling remained unaware of the development for a long time and had no idea that havoc was being wrought by