Tweet
Sharing rooms with animals and poultry exposes you to bird flu
JANE NAFULA
Some families in rural and urban areas of Uganda still share houses with their animals and poultry. This is probably because of lack of space and finances to construct separate structures or fear of losing their livestock and poultry to thieves and wild animals.
However, officials from the Ministries of Health and of Agriculture warn that such families are at a high risk of contracting the deadly bird flu. Bird flu which is also known as avian influenza is a disease caused by the influenza virus that affects wild birds and poultry.
Many wild birds carry the virus and can spread it to domestic birds and human beings when they come into contact with saliva, nasal secretion, blood and droppings.
The Principal Information Scientist from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms Connie Acayo says since the disease has been reported next door in Sudan, Ugandans should not become complacent ?There is no bird flu in Uganda yet, but the country is at risk because Sudan is infected with the disease and we are doing a lot of business with that country,? she says.
Acayo says that since 2003, the virus has been infecting birds and people in Africa where 30 countries including Sudan, Egypt and Nigeria have been affected. In Nigeria and Egypt, majority of people who contracted the disease died. Acayo says the bird flu virus spreads very fast through poultry flocks and has a mortality rate among infected birds of 90 to 100 percent, often within 48 hours.
Human beings start showing signs after seven days of the infection. The symptoms include; fever, extreme earpain, coughing bloody septum, painful or difficult breathing, shortness of breath while resting or doing very little work and drowsiness.
A Senior Medical Educationist in the Ministry of Health, Ms Lilliane Luwanga says the public should take precautionary measures put in place by the Ministry so as to guard themselves against the disease.
They include, cleaning and getting rid of droppings and unconsumed feed from the yard every day, reporting sick or dead birds to the veterinary staff or local authorities, keeping birds away from children and living areas, washing hands often with soap or ash, avoiding consumption of dead or sick birds, avoid eating eggs, chicken and other poultry products that are not well cooked, burning or burying feathers and other waste away from the farm, seeking immediate treatment if you have fever after being in contact with sick or dead birds, quarantine, disinfect ing premises with Jik or other disinfectants and having farm workers wear protective gear while slaughtering poultry.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publ...lu_67949.shtml
JANE NAFULA
Some families in rural and urban areas of Uganda still share houses with their animals and poultry. This is probably because of lack of space and finances to construct separate structures or fear of losing their livestock and poultry to thieves and wild animals.
However, officials from the Ministries of Health and of Agriculture warn that such families are at a high risk of contracting the deadly bird flu. Bird flu which is also known as avian influenza is a disease caused by the influenza virus that affects wild birds and poultry.
Many wild birds carry the virus and can spread it to domestic birds and human beings when they come into contact with saliva, nasal secretion, blood and droppings.
The Principal Information Scientist from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms Connie Acayo says since the disease has been reported next door in Sudan, Ugandans should not become complacent ?There is no bird flu in Uganda yet, but the country is at risk because Sudan is infected with the disease and we are doing a lot of business with that country,? she says.
Acayo says that since 2003, the virus has been infecting birds and people in Africa where 30 countries including Sudan, Egypt and Nigeria have been affected. In Nigeria and Egypt, majority of people who contracted the disease died. Acayo says the bird flu virus spreads very fast through poultry flocks and has a mortality rate among infected birds of 90 to 100 percent, often within 48 hours.
Human beings start showing signs after seven days of the infection. The symptoms include; fever, extreme earpain, coughing bloody septum, painful or difficult breathing, shortness of breath while resting or doing very little work and drowsiness.
A Senior Medical Educationist in the Ministry of Health, Ms Lilliane Luwanga says the public should take precautionary measures put in place by the Ministry so as to guard themselves against the disease.
They include, cleaning and getting rid of droppings and unconsumed feed from the yard every day, reporting sick or dead birds to the veterinary staff or local authorities, keeping birds away from children and living areas, washing hands often with soap or ash, avoiding consumption of dead or sick birds, avoid eating eggs, chicken and other poultry products that are not well cooked, burning or burying feathers and other waste away from the farm, seeking immediate treatment if you have fever after being in contact with sick or dead birds, quarantine, disinfect ing premises with Jik or other disinfectants and having farm workers wear protective gear while slaughtering poultry.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publ...lu_67949.shtml
