The Hindu : `Handle poultry products with caution'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

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National

`Handle poultry products with caution'

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. Is it safe to continue to eat chicken, egg and other poultry products in the wake of the avian influenza or "bird flu" epidemic that is raging in several countries in the South East Asian region?

According to a fact-sheet put out by the World Health Organisation, though so far there was no epidemiological information to suggest that the disease could be transmitted through the consumption of contaminated poultry products or that products shipped from the affected countries have been a source of infection in humans, one has to be careful, particularly while dealing with raw egg products. According to the document, poultry products could be rendered safe if good hygiene practices were adopted during the handling of raw poultry meat and the products were subsequently cooked properly.

"While freezing and refrigeration would not substantially reduce the concentration or virulence of viruses on contaminated meat, proper cooking kills such viruses. In general, WHO recommends that foods should be cooked to reach an internal temperature of 70°C.

"In general, good hygiene practices during handling of raw poultry meat and the usual recommended cooking practices for poultry products would lower any potential risk to insignificant levels. (However,) eggs from the infected poultry could also be contaminated with the virus and therefore care should be taken in handling the shell eggs or raw egg products," it says.

The expert group constituted by the Centre to take stock of the emerging situation is meeting here tomorrow. Though outbreaks of bird flu are a regular occurrence, what has caused concern is the size and scope of the present one. So far, epidemics have been confined to just one country. But, this time it has spread to several countries.

In addition, the present outbreak has been caused by a sub-type of the virus called H5N1. There are a total of 15 avian influenza subtypes, but H5N1 is of particular concern as it mutated rapidly and had a documented propensity to acquire genes from viruses infecting other animal species. In addition, laboratory studies have shown that isolates from this subtype have a high pathogenicity and can cause severe disease in humans. Birds that survive the infection, have been found to excrete virus for at least 10 days, orally and in faeces, thus facilitating further spread at live poultry markets and by migratory birds.

According to health experts, the main worry was that the spread of the infection in birds increased the opportunities for direct infection of humans. If more humans become infected over time, it was also more likely that humans, if concurrently infected with human and avian influenza strains, could serve as the laboratory for the emergence of a new subtype with sufficient human genes to be easily transmitted from person to person. Such an event would mark the beginning of an influenza pandemic in the world.

As regards the symptoms of the avian influenza in humans, the experts said the reported symptoms ranged from typical flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, to eye infection, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia and other life-threatening complications.

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