Proper cooking prevents bird flu: WHO

Proper cooking prevents bird flu: WHO

Eva C. Komandjaja and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Wash your hands before you cook any poultry product and cook it
thoroughly at temperatures above 70 degrees Celsius to ensure
that it is free of any bird flu virus, says the World Health
Organization (WHO).

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is an infectious disease in
birds caused by Type A strains of the influenza virus. All birds
are susceptible to infection, although some species are more
resistant to infection than others.

A WHO investigation has found that close contact with live,
infected poultry can cause bird-to-human transmission.

Thus, marketing live poultry directly to consumers and
slaughtering chickens at retail outlets -- practices that are
commonplace in Indonesia -- should be discouraged, as they might
increase the risk of infection.

"Live, healthy chicken can acquire the virus from the
carcasses of infected poultry, especially when they are sold
together," said Marthen Malole, a researcher at the Bogor
Institute of Agriculture (IPB).

WHO reports that birds or chicken that survive infection
excrete the virus for at least 10 days, orally and in their
feces, and can thus the virus can still be spread at live poultry
markets and by migratory birds.

Poor sanitation at poultry markets and chicken stalls are
suspected to have contributed to the spread of the virus, as has
unhygienic methods of transportation from farms to poultry
markets.

People should only eat well-cooked poultry and eggs.

Marthen asked that the public to remain on alert of the bird
flu outbreak, as many poultry farmers still sold infected chicken
to avoid huge losses.

"When they find their chicken are infected ... they will sell
them to market instead of slaughtering them and burning their
carcasses," he said.

While WHO has no evidence of human-to-human transmission, it
has warned that the bird flu virus has the potential to be more
serious than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, if
it mutates into a form that can pass from person to person.

WHO has planned a massive funding appeal next week to help
authorities in Asia cull poultry to stamp out the illness and aid
farmers, The Associated Press reported.

Currently, Vietnam and Thailand are the only two countries in
which bird flu has been found in humans in the current outbreak.

While the Indonesian government has confirmed bird flu cases
among poultry, it said no cases have been found as yet in humans.

The first recorded outbreak of bird flu in humans occurred in
Hong Kong in 1997, when 18 persons developed the disease. Of
these, 12 recovered.

Marius Widjajarta of the Indonesian Health Consumer
Empowerment Foundation (YPKKI) urged the government to provide
all facts about the outbreak.

"The government should provide data and information to the
public, such as what kind of actions it has taken and their
results," he said.