US provides avian flu detection equipment to Pakistan
Pakistan Times National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: USAID has announced to provide Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) equipment for the Pakistani National Reference Lab.

The new equipment will enable the lab to test samples to determine the strain of the Avian Flu Virus within 6 hours.

The existing equipment requires 24-72 hours, said the US Embassy here on Saturday. By streamlining the process for identifying the disease, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock officials will be able to eliminate unnecessary culling and birds and further reduce the risk of spreading the disease to humans.

Pakistan has had 28 small-scale poultry farms with confirmed cases of the H5N1 strain, resulting in the culling of more than 120,000 birds.

Speaking from the lab site, Ambassador Randall Tobias, the global USAID Administrator, praised the work of the National Reference Lab and its 11 field labs.

In his statement he asserted “it is in large part because of your hard work and dedication to the safety of your communities that Pakistan has not experienced bird-to-human or human-to-human cases of Avian Influenza.”

The National Reference Lab network was setup by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in 2004 with financial and technical support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The lab—the only FAO-approved lab for handling the Avian Influenza pandemic in South Asia—is currently funded by USAID and managed by the FAO.

The assistance package donated on Saturday includes 2,000 sets of personal protective equipment. This equipment protects the Rapid Response teams investigate avian influenza outbreaks and handle infected birds.

USAID is also working with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Health and the World Bank to finalize a unified action plan for dealing with the Avian Influenza pandemic in Pakistan.

As part of the long-term plan to contain the virus, USAID will fund the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen the Ministry of Health’s ability to investigate and control communicable disease outbreaks.●