The avian H5N1 virus spread has become larger than ever as it was found in several places in Europe; including Greece, Romania, Turkey, and even England. Since the virus was identified in Hong Kong back in 1997, this was the first case when it reached outside Asia. Those countries are now slaughtering their chickens. Turkey, for example, has been eliminating more than 9,000 animals in quarantine. In Hungary, which shares border with Romania, people seem to avoid buying poultry. "We keep telling the customers that our chickens are healthy, but they hardly buy any. Even when they stopped by, they did so only to complain about the flu," said Iren Kirilla, a butcher in Budapest market.
South East Asia is in no better situation. After killing more than 60 people in Asia since 2003, the virus is still spreading terror. People panic at the thought of death caused by it. Last July, Lien Rosalina—a wife and mother of three—in Tangerang, Indonesia had to lose her husband and two children within one week; presumably because of bird flu. Yet nobody could tell where or how they could get infected. They lived far from any farm; they had no pet; and the whole family mostly ate the same food. In fact Rosalina and a child are in healthy condition.
Accurate explanation however may have to wait as the matter is still under investigation. But the facts are there: most H5N1 patients did not work on farmhouses; on the contrary, there are not many farm workers who have caught by this virus—even on the farms with low bio-security systems. Sometimes they work with using neither gloves nor mask. This raises a question whether they have become resistant to the virus.
So far it is certain by now that the H5N1, although very dangerous, is nonetheless weak. It becomes completely inactive under the heat, which actually gives no reason to avoid eating properly-cooked poultry. It spreads through the respiratory system; and not food digestion.
The biggest possibility for the virus to spread is through the migrating wild birds. They might drop their infected feces to human settlements. And if these dry feces mingled with dust and were inhaled by humans, it would infect them. It might be the logical explanation to Rosalina's family in Indonesia. There is also chance that it is also carried by flies, as well as pig and other wild animals.
Article comments
1 - DrPat
Excellent advice, Ayu: "prevent virus infection... by taking care of hygiene"
2 - Liberal
Wait! Haven't we all already been killed by Mad Cow disease, Sars, Legionnaire's disease, shark attacks or the comet Kahoutek?
3 - Ayu
I know it sounds very simple, but so far that is the only thing we could do...referred to doctors' advice. Unfortunately most of the links I provided on the piece are in Indonesian. I could elaborate with more details though. By taking care of hygiene, I meant to say watch your respiratory system...as the virus attacks that area. Wash your hands often, avoid picking your nose, avoid rain water and dust as they may contain some viruses. Those are the simplest steps we could do for now while waiting for the real vaccine. Perhaps you could also get some Tamiflu if you think that might give more confidence. I am no doctor, so I just wrote what I read from other sources, I'm sorry if it sounded silly. But silly or not, the advice was given by most doctors in Indonesia.
4 - Liberal
You forgot one, Ayu: Don't watch the news. They have a tendency to hype everything out of proportion in the hunt race for higher ratings.
5 - Ayu
Liberal: I suppose that is true enough. Actually apart from what I read on the media, this virus doesn't have too much effect on my life; as I don't live in Indonesia. But my parents do. It's kind of scary to talk to them on the phone and they said that they were even afraid to eat chicken because of this virus; and the government was campaigning to prove how safe it was to eat chicken. Such ridiculous things...but they exist.
6 - Nancy
The MSM have been fearmongering this flu to push up ratings. Once flu season is over, they'll find something else menacing the human race. When I'm wearing my tin hat, I sometimes even have suspected the MSM of possibly instigating things when they've gotten too quiet, in order to drum up business for themselves. Fortunately I haven't had to do this since Bush got into office.