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Experts claim Bird Flu virus cannot survive over 70oC
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=54506
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=54506
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=small_txt height=20> By Qadeer Tanoli</TD></TR><TR><TD class=small_txt>Karachi
Technical experts and doctors claim that the bird flu virus (H5N1) cannot survive temperatures over 70 degrees centigrade. As such, there are no chances of transmission of the viral disease from affected chickens to human beings, provided, of course, the food is properly cooked.
However, office-bearers of the Karachi Wholesale Poultry Association (KWPA) believed that H5N1 could not survive even at 40 degrees centigrade. Sometime back, 47,500 layer chickens were culled in Gadap Town due to detection of the deadly H5N1 virus in them.
The H5N1, an avian influenza, is sometimes transmitted to human beings and proves lethal if not promptly cured. So far 175 people have died worldwide owing to the virus. However, no such death was reported in Pakistan even though the bird flu virus has spread twice since 2003 in the country.
The doctors say that there might be two reasons for zero mortality rate in human beings in Pakistan. One is that no case of viral transmission from chicken to human has been reported to date, while the other reason could be the lack of advanced laboratories in the country to detect the virus. The National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad is the only laboratory in the country which can detect H5N1.
The Secretary-General of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Karachi Chapter, Dr Qaisar Sajjad, informed this reporter that, as is commonly known, in the initial stages the symptoms of bird flu in human beings are that of a common flu. With the passage of time the respiratory system gets severely affected which can cause death if not properly tended.
He disclosed that there were around 0.6 million quacks in Pakistan of whom 30,000 to 40,000 are active in Karachi alone. He said that these quacks are one of the major hurdles in diagnosing bird flu or some other diseases. Moreover, he observed that if basic health units in the country worked properly, they might help in detecting the symptoms of the virus.
Sajjad said that consumption of properly boiled eggs and chickens cooked at high temperature did not spread the avian influenza. ?One should also be careful while eating barbecue, only properly roasted chickens should be consumed,? he advised. ?The doctors should inform flu-infected persons to go through bird flu diagnosis tests if the disease is not cured even after five days,? he urged.
?The PMA demands that import duty on viral infection diagnosis kits should be abolished. Moreover, the Civil Hospital, Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and other hospitals in the public sector should be equipped with laboratories which could diagnose bird flu,? he emphasised.
The Executive Director, Sindh Poultry Vaccine Centre, Shafqat Fatima Rehmani, when contacted confirmed that H5N1 could not survive over 70 degrees centigrade. However, she cautioned that slaughtering of affected chickens may transmit the viral to humans. The saliva of affected chickens may be the cause of this viral transmission.
She confirmed that H5N1 is a winter virus as it is carried by birds that migrate from Siberia to Pakistan during the winter season. She observed that the local norms facilitate the transmission of the virus to human beings. She said that there is no concept of selling live birds or chickens to be slaughtered at home in European countries. She said that even in Saudi Arabia the sale of live chickens or birds would probably be banned by August 2007 and only frozen chicken meat will then be available.
?We also need to maintain quality control in our country to check the spread of H5N1. There should be proper testing of birds before slaughtering them so that affected birds can be avoided,? she said.
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