'Infants, the elderly susceptible to bird flu'

The Jakarta Post, Tangerang/Jakarta

Internist Dr. Benyamin Lukito of Siloam Gleneagles Hospital in Karawaci, Tangerang, called on people with lung problems to avoid contact with live chickens following the outbreak of bird flu, or avian influenza, in some Asian countries including Indonesia.

Speaking at a seminar on Bird Flu: What and How on Saturday at the hospital, Benyamin said that people with lung problems were more susceptible to the virus.

Those infected with the virus will develop symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and, in several of the fatal cases, severe respiratory distress secondary to viral pneumonia.

"Vaccination is mainly required for infants under six months old and people above 50, people with lung problems, children and teenagers taking aspirin and pregnant women," he said. "Breast- feeding mothers, however, are protected from this virus."

"So far, there is only a vaccine for poultry. Making a vaccine for humans is not as easy as for animals," he said.

The recent outbreak of bird flu has made people reduce their consumption of chicken and eggs.

During the seminar, a participant asked the speakers would it be safe to consume chicken.

"It is very important to pay extra attention to how you cook chicken and eggs. Chicken must be cooked at above 80 degrees Celsius while eggs must be cooked at above 60 degrees Celsius," said veterinarian Mawardi Nasution, an official with the Tangerang regency animal husbandry agency.

Both experts assured participants that there had been no case of the human strain of bird flu in Indonesia.

Separately on Sunday, the operator of the country's biggest poultry supplier Semanggi Poultry Market in Surakarta, Central Java, said that traders had stopped distribution to Jakarta in the last four days to prevent the further spread of bird flu.

Traders said that normally they delivered 10,000 chickens a day on average to Jakarta, priced at Rp 12,000 (US$1.4) each.

There are 35 traders who occupy the market kiosks and another 135 traders who have stalls in the market compound. According to head of the Surakarta husbandry agency, Amiradji, the Semanggi market's turnover reached Rp 1 billion per day before the outbreak.