Pakistan confirms third bird flu case

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday confirmed its third case of bird flu in a week after three turkeys in Islamabad died of the H5N1 strain potentially deadly to humans.   

The three birds were kept at the same house and their deaths were reported on Monday, a day after the H5N1 strain was confirmed among chickens in nearby Rawalpindi and peacocks in northwestern Mansehra -- Pakistan's first cases in nearly a year.   

There had been no reports of the virus infecting birds produced in commercial farms around the country, Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry spokesman Mohammad Afzal said, and no human infection.   

Pakistan's first H5N1 cases were in March 2006 and its latest was last April, when about 40,000 chickens were slaughtered at eight poultry farms on the outskirts of the capital.   

No human bird flu cases have been recorded in Pakistan.