Governor tells public to avoid poultry with bird flu symptoms
Governor tells public to avoid poultry with bird flu symptoms
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso warned Jakarta residents to be wary of avian
flu and to avoid eating fowl that displayed avian flu symptoms
even though the Jakarta Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency has
announced that the avian flu strain found on several poultry
farms in North Jakarta posed no dangers to humans.
"In fact, birds that have the avian flu virus are safe to eat,
but I would advise you to nevertheless be on your guard by not
eating them," Sutiyoso told reporters at City Hall.
Citing the results of the tests conducted by the Jakarta
Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency, Sutiyoso said that the
suspected outbreak of avian flu, which killed 450 quail on a farm
in Semper, North Jakarta, could only be transmitted to animals
and that it would be unlikely that it would jump to human.
"The test results confirm that this avian flu strain is
different from the strain behind the outbreak in Vietnam, which
is very harmful to human life," he said.
He added that the relevant city agencies had taken
precautionary measures by assigning more officers to monitor
poultry farms and poultry markets across the capital.
"Those officers will also take blood samples from people who
are directly exposed to birds that have contracted the virus,
like poultry breeders and bird traders," he said.
So far, there had been no reports of people contracting avian
flu here.
According to Sutiyoso, the administration's officers had also
destroyed birds found to have avian flu so as to prevent the
outbreak from spreading.
The administration has intensified the monitoring of livestock
entering the city's markets at around 100 check points across the
capital.
"Our officers will continue to carry out physical checks on
livestock entering the city's markets even if they have been
declared healthy by the relevant agency in the place of origin,"
said an official at the Pulogadung check point.
The symptoms of avian flu in birds include brownish crests,
reddish skin and rashes on the feet and head.