Bird flu and Your Personal Safety

The world we live in today is not safer than the one known by our parents and grandparents. If you've kept up with the news lately, you've heard terrible warnings about bird flu. It's the most serious known health threat the world is facing that has swept through the world bird population. There’s never a total absence of risks in our lives.  Risks are voluntary actions and can be managed.  Emergencies can be met and handled, but it takes know-how and continuous awareness.  What you can't prevent, you can usually compensate for or protect against. With alarm growing over the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, we all must acknowledge the fact that we bear some of the responsibility for making our environment safe and safety is thinking about other people, too.

“Remember that we live on the same planet and our interests are interconnected”

The following statements provide a summary of bird flu outbreaks:

• It’s caused by the influenza A (H5N1) virus.
• The infection can occur through the inhalation of the material infected with virus like cages, bird feeds, clothing, shoes of workers in farms, and any contaminated equipment.
• There is a greater risk of getting bird flu while handling the infected bird or infected eggs than eating these foods, as most cases of bird flu infection in humans have resulted from direct or close contact with infected poultry or surfaces contaminated with secretions and excretions from infected birds.
• Scientists believe that at least some migratory waterfowl are now carrying the virus and introducing the virus to poultry droves in areas that lie along their migratory routes.
• Within a country the disease spreads easily from farm to farm. Even small quantities of bird droppings carry a large load of the virus.
• Bird flu can appear within 1 – 5 days after contact with the infected material.
• It can pass from bird to bird, and from bird to human. No noticeable evidence to confirm human-to-human transmission of bird flu.The fear is that mutation of the virus will cause it to be easily spread from person to person, since flu viruses can change rapidly.
• The symptoms of bird flu in humans have ranged from standard flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches to eye infections and other complications.
• It has killed around 55% of the people it has infected so far.
• Humans have no immunity to it.
• There is no vaccine. Any new vaccine will be limited, not widely available.
• Antibiotics are useless against virus-caused flu.
• It can be contained through quarantine.

The best way to cut the risk of attack is by taking sensible precautions. You are probably already aware of some of the precautions listed below, but some may be new to you, and you may find them useful. According to The US Department of Agriculture; “Proper handling and cooking of poultry provides further protection against this virus, as it does against many viruses and bacteria, including Salmonella and E.coli. Safe food handling and preparation is important at all times”.

Here is a summary of USDA recommendations:

• Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food (like fresh poultry and or eggs;
• Prevent cross-contamination by keeping raw meat, poultry, fish, and their juices away from other foods;
• After cutting raw meats, wash cutting board, knife, and counter tops with hot, soapy water;
• Sanitize cutting boards by using a solution of 1 teaspoon chlorine bleach in 1 quart of water; and
• Use a food thermometer to ensure food has reached the proper temperature. Cook whole birds to 180 °F; breasts to 170 °F; drumsticks, thighs and wings to 180 °F; ground turkey and chicken to 165º F; and a minimum oven temperature of 325 °F.

To paraphrase …

 If the food is well cooked, there is hardly any risk of getting bird flu as no data suggest that the disease can be transmitted to humans through properly cooked food (even if contaminated with the virus prior to cooking). And in general, frequent and thorough hand washing is to be observed to avoid getting the disease during processing and cooking of possibly infected poultry. 

While your government will follow certain policy and procedures to prepare for a pandemic, people action and people responsibility are of vital importance for the success of any plan to maximize our preparation So if there is an outbreak of the bird flu virus, the solution is readily available if people would just get the right information on flu prevention and treatment with vaccines or other medical products.  Knowledge is POWER and we need to be prepared for an outbreak of bird flu.

Altogether, more than 50% of the confirmed cases have been fatal. This kind of flu in humans is still a relatively rare disease, but a very strict one that must be taken into consideration and closely studied, because of the potential this virus to evolve in ways that could cause a human pandemic.