The threat of bird flu
The threat of bird flu
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila
The threat of bird flu is lapping at our shores, with other
Asian countries reporting deaths from the virus that has jumped
from fowl to humans at a pace worrisome to the World Health
Organization.
As in anything for the most part yet to be satisfactorily
explained by authorities, the general public is left to rely on
hazy pronouncements-for example, that Philippine fowl,
particularly chicken, is safe for consumption.
This is all very well, at least for those households who
choose chicken as their staple dish and who can afford to do so,
and, as well, the considerable portion of the population that
raises poultry as livelihood and that stands to lose everything
in, quite literally, one fell swoop. But for how long?
Even in the last decade, scientists warned that the
indiscriminate use of antibiotics and other drugs has resulted in
virus mutations resistant to the strongest medication. The
warning has since provided fodder for science-fiction thrillers,
except that there is nothing thrilling or fictional in the
modern-day diseases that have since claimed human casualties in
disturbing numbers. A case, so to speak, of life imitating
celluloid.
The governments of countries with reported cases of bird flu
-- Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South
Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam -- have ordered the culling
of millions of chickens infected by the virus.
Global media have recorded and beamed to all points of the
planet not only reports but also photographs and footage of
slaughter, which, although presumably intended to show swift
implementation of health measures, somehow portray humanity in
panic-and a not insignificant tinge of savagery. (But this is
hardly new. Years after the mad cow disease hit England in the
1990s and Prime Minister Tony Blair's order to slaughter resulted
in the destruction of both infected and healthy cattle, a
dramatic picture of a dead cow being hoisted by crane from a
mountain of carcasses remains etched in the memory. And only
recently came this chilling photograph from China, parts of which
experienced a brief resurgence of SARS: Of a worker with one foot
pinning down a cornered civet cat, poised to deliver the death
blow.)
The latest buzz is that migratory and wild birds are causing
the virus that has been described as "very hardy" and able to
travel "very easily in the air and over great distances." Here is
an Agence France Presse report on the matter: "Scientists suggest
that migrating birds (taking the East Asian Flyway) could have
introduced the virus in their droppings or passed it on to
domesticated birds during stop-offs in their winter journeys
south for the warm weather and summer flights north."
On top of all these, of course, is the prevailing "flu
weather," with sudden heat interspersed between bursts of cold.
The fear is that bird flu could link with the regular flu to
produce a mutation fiercer than what is now known.
We better brace for the long haul. The prognosis appears to be
that things will get worse before they get better.