H5N1 bird flu found in poultry in eastern Afghanistan, U.N. says
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan authorities were culling poultry after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in chicken in an eastern Afghan city, a U.N. official said Wednesday.
Bird flu was reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, said Serge Verniau, the country representative of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Afghanistan.
Samples of chicken in the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad were found to have the H5N1 strain, while the exact type of the outbreak in Kunar has yet to be confirmed, Verniau said.
The latest Afghan outbreak was reported a day after authorities in neighboring Pakistan closed a zoo in the capital Islamabad following lab tests that confirmed H5N1 in its peacocks and geese.
“We do not know whether it is the same strain as the one which appeared in Pakistan,” Verniau said.
Afghanistan is a crossroads for migratory birds and there is considerable trade among countries in the region, he said.
Avian influenza story source: AP