Regions differ in handling of bird flu

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)