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Experts warn of bird flu risks with Lunar New Year
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-12 14:01
When Chinese people gather all over the world to celebrate Lunar New Year at
the end of January, chicken will be standard fare on their dining tables.
But experts are warning the jump in demand and the way live chickens are
packed densely in crates, moved across borders and slaughtered is a sure recipe
for trouble and could mean more outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in birds
and humans.
"We are afraid of the risks, with more imports, the risks of infected
chickens coming in will be greater. And if that happens, the risks of human
beings getting infected will go up," said Leo Poon, a microbiologist at the
University of Hong Kong.
The Chinese have a penchant for cooking and consuming freshly slaughtered
chickens, but that age-old habit requires them to shop at neighbourhood markets
where buyers and sellers are exposed to poultry in often unsanitary conditions.
Eating well-cooked chicken poses no danger but slaughtering and handling
infected chickens does.
While the virus remains relatively hard for people to catch and is spread
almost exclusively through contact with birds, scientists fear it could mutate
into a strain that could pass easily among people and set off a pandemic,
killing millions.
In East Asia, 76 people have died of bird flu since 2003. The virus spread
recently to Turkey, killing two children and experts have warned that it might
now invade neighbouring countries.
On Wednesday, Shigeru Omi, the World Health Organisation's regional director
for the Western Pacific, said the number of outbreaks will increase with the
Lunar New Year festival and urged people to practice good hygiene.
"Based upon past experience, approaching the Lunar calendar New Year, the
number of cases will increase," Omi said. "It is very important for people to
apply basic personal hygiene practices ... they should never eat dying or sick
poultry."
CONTROLS
China's top veterinarian, Jia Youling, warned in December that the country
had to be on its guard over the festive season, when there will be greater
consumption of poultry and millions of people will be travelling as they return
to their home towns.
Beijing authorities have been assuring people that it
is safe to eat properly slaughered birds, though a ban on the sale of live
poultry has not been lifted.
"It's still temporarily not allowed, as bird
flu has not yet past, and the slightest nick of the skin during slaughter could
be dangerous," Beijing city's agricultural chief Lei Decai was quoted as saying
in state media this month.
In Hong Kong, where the virus made its first known jump to humans in 1997 and
killed six people, authorities are considering whether to lift the daily import
cap of 30,000 live chickens, which are sourced from registered farms in mainland
China.
In Vietnam, where the festival is celebrated, sales of "clean poultry", or
birds free of bird flu, have gone up. Sales were banned for about three months
after a man died of infection from the H5N1 virus last October, the country's
42nd fatality since 2003.
Supply is limited, with several authorised slaughter houses in Hanoi and Ho
Chi Minh City turning out just 80,000 birds a day for the population of 13
million people in both cities.
But experts have warned of poultry with fake inspection stamps. "Consumers
should protect themselves by only buying the right poultry which has passed food
inspection," said Hoang Thuy Long, deputy head of the anti-bird flu steering
committee.
The heightened awareness and controls, however, have not gone down well with
the badly affected poultry industry.
Chui Ming-tuen of the Hong Kong Poultry Wholesale Association wants the daily
import cap of 30,000 chickens to be increased for a week before the Lunar New
Year. He said live chicken imports from China were safe as they were vaccinated.
"The government should stop listening to the so-called experts who are just
frightening people. They are totally irresponsible ... if there is no chicken
for every family, I will feel so sad. Chickens are simply a necessity," Chui
said.
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