Regions differ in handling of bird flu
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As public concern escalates over the spread of bird flu, with two new suspected cases reported in Jakarta after three recent deaths in Tangerang, sales of eggs, chicken meat and chicken dishes in markets, restaurants and street stalls are plummeting.
However, according to an official, Jakartans should not overreact to the bird flu scare.
"People in Jakarta should not worry about eating chicken," Chaidir Taufik, head of the Jakarta Animal Husbandry Agency, said on Wednesday.
He explained that since last year's bird flu outbreak, a vaccination program was carried out on all poultry farms in all Jakarta districts.
Moreover, bio-security methods as well as bird flu vaccinations have been applied to chickens and quails at the major receiving centers in Rawa Kepiting, North Jakarta and Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta.
"Three times a week we directly supervise the spraying of disinfectant at the receiving center in Pulo Gadung."
The total number of chickens entering the Jakarta market was up to 400,000 a day, imported from places such as Tasikmalaya, Ciamis, Cianjur, Sukabumi, Bogor, as well as from other places in Central Java and East Java.
Chaidir said that officials from his office frequently visited the slaughtering places at traditional markets in all municipalities as well as chicken farms to familiarize producers, distributors and sellers as to what bird flu is and how it is spread.
Recently, he added, his division distributed posters and fliers at the Senen traditional market and provided training for poultry traders at the offices of the Central Jakarta mayor.
The agency's activities are based on the guidelines established in Minister of Agriculture Decree No. 96/2004 on avian influenza and Directorate General Decree No. 17/2004 on guidelines for prevention, control and elimination of avian influenza.
"We have determined nine steps for prevention such as intensifying the bio-security program, applying a poultry vaccination program, culling infected poultry and monitoring all production centers," said Soedarmono, head of the sub-directorate for the prevention and eradication of disease in livestock at the agriculture ministry.
He said that his department had send out brochures, leaflets, and booklets, as well as broadcasting information to the media and provided training at all provincial animal husbandry agencies. He expected that these efforts would make the public aware of the disease and how to prevent it.
"All provincial agencies are entitled to hold their own programs in compliance with the guidelines," Soedarmono added.
But in Tangerang regency, Regent Ismet Iskandar has asserted that there was no bird flu within his jurisdiction and that no poultry worker had been infected with the deadly H5N1 virus despite the fact that they never wore gloves or masks.
Maryatin, 45, a chicken trader at the Cikokol Market in Tangerang, complained that her sales had collapsed, from an average of 35 chickens per day to almost none, was she was still in the dark as to what was happening.
"We heard that people are now scared to eat chicken after the media reported that a father and his two daughters in Serpong died of bird flu. What is bird flu anyway?" she queried. (004)