Avian

ChickenLittle · #1 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 02:22 PM

Are you worried at all about the avian flu? Anyone going to stop eating chicken? Anyone with poultry/fowl on their farms-are you going to take any precautions? Or do you believe this is just another big hype like hand foot mouth and mad cow?

ChickenLittle · #2 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 02:24 PM

Sorry I didn't write out the title entirely. It should have been Avian Bird Flu

roxrkool · #3 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 02:37 PM

Can you get the flu by eating an infected bird?

Jonesey · #4 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by roxrkool

Can you get the flu by eating an infected bird?

I thought people got it from coming into contact with infected feces.

ETHAN'S MOMMA · #5 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 04:20 PM

I think they're saying you have a very small chance of getting it if the meat is under cooked. And then I think you have to have a very weak immune system. I love chicken and duck I really don't think I'll stop anytime soon.

jsnbean · #6 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 04:28 PM

I'm not too worried. I don't think the US bird population is affected so we won't get it from birds. I think it was birds in Asia that got infected and the virus jumped species. Apparently it is common for birds and people to be sharing quarters in Asia.
The main worry is now that humans are infected; they are passing it around.

Jilda

ChickenLittle · #7 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 04:35 PM

I believe they had said something about getting it from eating it but I guess I cannot be sure. I just noticed that the price of chicken increased here lately and I felt maybe there was a connection. Our tractor store will not be selling any chicks or ducks this year because of the "risk"

I had read too that people in Asia often share their homes with their chickens so they would be in a lot of contact with the feces.

I personally am not worried about the avian flu. I am only irritated that it makes buying chickens harder for my farm. I wasn't worried about mad cow or the hand foot mouth. I personally think the gov't gets things all out of proportion. I am more worried about how people react than the threat itself.

geela · #8 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 04:51 PM

I watched a special on the National Geographic channel about this. Apparently most of the time when bird flu jumps species it has pigs as an intermediate host. Although there have been cases direct from chicken to people. Some cases have been caused by the owners of fighting cocks basically doing mouth to beak on their birds.

Anyway, pigs can get both avian flu and human flu. if they get both at the same time the two sometimes end up producing a flu that people can't fight off. So, I am not worried about eating chicken at all.

ChickenLittle · #9 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 05:02 PM

Interesting Geela. I betcha in Asia they let their pigs go around all around them too.

roxrkool · #10 (**permalink**) 02-28-2006, 05:25 PM

The danger in the avian flu is when it mutates enough so that people can pass it amongst themselves efficiently. Researchers think that all or most historic flu pandemics were avian derived.

Additionally, that same virus is not restricted to Asia, last I saw it had made it as far as France and soon it will be here as well. However, I don't know what that means exactly except that an increase in the number of infected birdsmay mean the virus is mutating faster.

So am I worried? Yes.

Will I stop eating chicken? I will if people can get the flu by eating the meat and if chickens here are infected.

ChickenLittle · #11 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 05:52 AM

I suppose I dont worry a lot about what ifs or could be's. I dont worry about getting the regular flu. Some years I get it and other years I dont but when I do it is mild. The year that I got the flu the worst was the first and only year that I got the flu shot.
I wont ever get the flu shot again hehehe. I dont necessarily wear mosquito repellent in the summer even with the threat of West Nile. West Nile has killed more than Avian Flu but i dont know. I think i would just go crazy if I worried about all the what ifs and coulds. I wouldn't drive a car as i might get into an accident. I would have to live out in a field so my house couldn't burn up or fall down on me but then again that wouldn't work either because I might be struck by lightning. LOL. If I didn't know better, I would think that every day life has a lot of risks to it. I am not going to let this avian thing get to me, I just hope the gov't doesn't try to manage my chicken flocks or I am going to get angry.

Emaline · #12 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by roxrkool

The danger in the avian flu is when it mutates enough so that people can pass it amongst themselves efficiently. Researchers think that all or most historic flu pandemics were avian derived.

Additionally, that same virus is not restricted to Asia, last I saw it had made it as far as France and soon it will be here as well. However, I don't know what that means exactly except that an increase in the number of infected birdsmay mean the virus is mutating faster.

So am I worried? Yes.

Will I stop eating chicken? I will if people can get the flu by eating the meat and if chickens here are infected.

The idea of a pandemic virus scares the hell out of me. However there is not a lot we can do about but be extra careful. If I hear about cases in the US, I will probably start stocking up on canned foods and water and the like. It certainly will not hurt.

Sarah · #13 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 09:49 AM

I'm not too worried. I don't think the US bird population is affected so we won't get it from birds. I think it was birds in Asia that got infected and the virus jumped species. Apparently it is common for birds and people to be sharing quarters in Asia.

The flu is spreading because of the migratory habits of bird species. At some point, they all overlap, which allows for the spread of the virus. The most likely "entrance" into North America is through birds migrating through the Bering Strait.

I don't think that it's a matter of if avian flu is going to come to North America. It's a matter of when and how prepared we will be when it gets here. I am not overly concerned. Mass hysteria will only hamper efforts to prepare ourselves.
The only thing that worries me even partially is that Tyson has a huge huge area of chicken farms an hour away from where I live, and it is/could be a breeding ground for the virus once it gets here.

Sarah · #14 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 09:54 AM

I forgot to answer about whether we will stop eating poultry. It depends on how the virus is being spread at that time and what the risks are involving eating the poultry. We'll probably make the move to tofu and other alternatives to meats at that point. Since it's already a part of our diets, it won't be too much of a change.

Jonesey · #15 (**permalink**) 03-01-2006, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by roxrkool

The danger in the avian flu is when it mutates enough so that people can pass it amongst themselves efficiently.

This is what scares me. I'm not worried about getting it from eating chicken.

davenrae · #16 (**permalink**) 03-02-2006, 07:53 PM

Yes I'm worried about the avian flu. CNN reported yesterday that they found a case of of the avian flu in a cat in Germany, which means the strain is mutating ( of course we knew that already). It scares the heck out of me because we don't know anyway to treat it and quite honestly how far or long it's been spreading.
I will continue to eat chicken because if there were a possibility that it were spread by consumption the govt would intervene as they did with mad cow disease.
Any way, as far as I know, the diagnosed cases have been those who have been living closely with infected birds. Sounds like that would be a droplet precaution infection (meaning spread by mucus, saliva feces etc).
So bottom line... WASH YOUR HANDS!!!! You'd be suprised how many different infections you can prevent that way.
My biggest concern is if it becomes airborne.

BooBooKItty · #17 (**permalink**) 03-02-2006, 07:59 PM

Will I stop eating chicken? I will if people can get the flu by eating the meat and if chickens here are infected.

Yeah that. Although the only meats that we eat now really is chicken and ground turkey. Would suck to have to switch over to beef, It makes me smell bad.

SKKM June mommy · #18 (**permalink**) 03-03-2006, 08:31 AM

I saw this article today on Yahoo:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060303/...u_consumers_dc

LONDON (Reuters) -
Bird flu in poultry does not pose any food safety risk because it is unlikely a sick chicken would be slaughtered for consumption and thoroughly cooking meat and eggs would kill the virus, a health expert said on Friday.

Dr Judith Hilton, the head of microbiological safety at Britain's Food Standards Agency, said salmonella poses more of a risk to consumers than bird flu.

"It isn't a food safety risk," Hilton told a news briefing.

"We advise thorough cooking of poultry meat and eggs. If you cook your poultry and your eggs, you would get rid of any viruses present."

The H5N1 bird flu virus that has spread from Asia to countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has infected 174 people and killed 94 since the end of 2003.

All of those infected with the virus were in close contact with diseased birds. So far H5N1 has not shown it can spread easily from person to person but scientists fear it could mutate into a form that could become highly infectious in humans.

"When we look at people who have caught avian flu in the Far East and more recently in Turkey and the Middle East, there has been very close contact between those people and live sick birds or occasionally recently dead birds. That goes for virtually all of the cases that have been described," said Hilton.

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

She added that people generally get flu through the respiratory system, not from what they eat.

In order for viruses to infect people and cause disease, they need to attach to cell receptors in the body. Receptors for influenza viruses are normally in the respiratory track.

There are also a number of controls in Britain and other countries that would prevent any outbreaks in flocks from spreading and sick birds being slaughtered for consumption.

H5N1 avian influenza has killed birds in more than 30 countries across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Hilton added that the possibility of infected chickens or eggs reaching consumers in Britain was very remote because of the various controls in place.

In the very unlikely event that it did, washing hands and utensils would deal with any risk from handling raw meat or cooking with eggs.

"We advise the thorough cooking of poultry meat and the cooking of eggs in order to prevent you getting other food poisoning organisms, particularly salmonella," said Hilton.

"If you cook your poultry and your eggs as you would do to reduce the risk of salmonella, then you would have long ago gotten rid of any virus that might be present."

Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) issued a statement aimed at reassuring consumers that it was safe to eat the meat or eggs of infected birds provided it is cooked thoroughly enough.

"Poultry meat and poultry meat products heated at their core to 70 degrees centigrade are as safe as hard-boiled eggs from the perspective of passing on an infection," the BfR said.

Earlier, a spokesman for Germany's poultry producers association ZDG said German demand for poultry had dropped by around 20 percent since the onset of bird flu in Europe, resulting in losses of some 143 million euros for the industry.

roxrkool · #19 (**permalink**) 03-03-2006, 08:55 AM

The H5N1 bird flu virus that has spread from Asia to countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has infected 174 people and killed 94 since the end of 2003.

Greater than 50% mortality. Not something to take lightly.

Jescafa · #20 (**permalink**) 03-03-2006, 09:08 AM

I will worry about it when they find out that it can be passed from human to human. I'm not worried about getting it from a chicken or a pig.

BTW, it's HOOF and mouth that's the cattle disease, not hand-foot-and-mouth. Hand-foot-and-mouth is a human disease, and I had it last year. Sucked. But it was hardly a threat to local livestock, even though my brother totally made fun of me and said that I was a walking bioterrorist.