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.