13.03.2006

The first case of avian influenza has been detected in Afghanistan and there's a high risk that tests could prove it to be the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, a U.N. agency said Monday.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said five swab samples from backyard poultry farms in Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad tested positive on Monday for H5, and that tests were under way to discern the subtype (The virus was found in three birds in the capital, Kabul, and two in the eastern province of Nangarhar).
Dr. Azizullah Esmoni, director of the husbandry and veterinary department of the Afghan Agriculture Ministry, said the tests on the five samples from Afghanistan were underway at an FAO laboratory in Italy. He expected results within 48 hours to determine whether or not H5N1 was present.
The FAO statement said the avian influenza samples tested were "associated with high mortality" and the results so far indicated "that a highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected at more than one site in Afghanistan."