'Infants, the elderly susceptible to bird flu'

'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.