Public told to be alert, not panic about bird flu

Bambang Nurbianto and Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Tangerang

Breakfast on Wednesday evening might be the last time that Hariyanto, 35, will enjoy his favorite meal: fried chicken.

"I read the news on the Internet in the afternoon that the deaths of three people at the Villa Melati Mas housing complex in Tangerang last week was likely caused by avian flu virus ... they were infected by chicken meat that they ate," said Hariyanto, a resident of Pondok Aren village, also in Tangerang regency.

He said he had told his wife never again to serve chicken to him and their two children.

Hariyanto was referring to media reports that a laboratory in Hong Kong had confirmed that bird flu virus was found in the blood samples of Iwan Siswara Rifei, an auditor at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), and his two young daughters.

The first fatal case of the human variant of bird flu has prompted the government to declare Tangerang a "red zone" and to start monitoring Villa Melati Mas residents and the transportation of animals and poultry in and out of the regency.

However, statements from Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari have irked Regent Ismet Iskandar, who said on Thursday that residents had started to panic, while poultry breeders and traders were complaining about falling sales.

"The central government should not have rushed to declare Tangerang an avian influenza red zone. After all, no poultry farm workers have contracted the disease," Ismet said, adding that none of the workers used masks or gloves.

"I would call on residents not to panic," he added.

He said he believed that Iwan Siswara had picked up the virus somewhere outside Tangerang due to his high mobility and the fact that he was often sent abroad.

Tangerang Regency Farm and Agricultural Agency director Didi Aswadi said that all poultry in Tangerang was free of bird flu.

He also said that pigs and poultry had not been dying on a large scale in Legok and Panongan districts because of bird flu as reported by local media outlets on Wednesday.

"We did find bird flu symptoms in pigs in Legok in 2003 and 2004 while conducting routine examinations, but the pigs were then culled," he explained.

Didi added that since an early warning system had been put in place in Tangerang in February this year, all poultry, pets and pigs had been given vaccinated.

Chicken traders in Jakarta were also complaining about falling business as a result of the bird flu scare.

"My sales have declined by between 15 percent and 25 percent in the past four days. Usually, I sell around 100 chickens a day, but I have only sold around 50 chickens today (up to 2:30 p.m.)," said Muhammad Zainuri, 50, a trader at Palmerah market, Central Jakarta.

Hery Indiyanto, the head of the Animal Product Health Division at the Jakarta Husbandry, Fisheries and Maritime Agency, said on Thursday that residents could easily avoid being infected by bird flu.

According to Hery, the avian flu virus dies at a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius.

"I don't recommend that people avoid eating chicken meat as it is safe to eat if it is cooked well," he said, adding that the panic had been caused by a lack understanding about the disease.

He said that most chickens in Jakarta markets came from Cianjur, Sukabumi, Garut and Purwakarta in West Java, and Solo, Purwokerto and Yogyakarta in Central Java.

"The chickens are first sent to Lampiri Market in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, from where they are distributed to all the other markets. We prevent chickens that are not provided with health certificates from entering Jakarta."

He said Jakartans consumed some 600,000 chickens per day.