Lieutenant Nazia Iqbal of the Pakistan navy salutes aboard the Dutch ship HNLMS De Zeven Provincien at Mina Salman Port, Bahrain. (AP)

Islamabad, April 24 (Reuters): Pakistan reported mounting cases of the deadly H5NI bird flu virus in poultry today after discovering more infected farms near the capital.

“Now, we have total nine poultry farms where H5N1 virus has been confirmed,” Mohammad Afzal, the agriculture ministry’s livestock commissioner, said.

He added that more than 40,000 chickens had been culled after new outbreaks were discovered in the past week at eight farms located in Tarlai and Sihala, two areas near Islamabad where poultry farms are concentrated.

“Checking each vehicle carrying birds or eggs (from the affected areas) is not possible, but we test samples from each farm,” said Rana Ikhlaq, an assistant commissioner.

Pakistan’s first reported cases were found in February at two farms in North West Frontier Province, but a third was discovered close to the capital earlier this month. None of the workers at the farms have contracted the disease. “We have tested samples of blood and nasal and throat swabs of 33 workers but their tests were negative,” Afzal said.

The government has 16 specialist teams covering the country, and 3,000 veterinary department workers monitoring and reporting any suspected outbreaks, he said.

Pakistan’s poultry industry has been badly hit, and farmers are refusing to pay even two rupees (3 US cents) for a chick against 15 rupees before the outbreak, according to Mohammad Sadiq, a former chairman of Pakistan Poultry Association.

“Because of the bird flu scare, even farmers are not buying new chicks at two rupees and I think we’ll see severe shortage of chickens after 45 days,” he said.

A dozen laboratories have been established in Pakistan’s four provinces to test for bird flu, but agriculture ministry officials said more funds were needed to meet the challenge effectively.