The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bird flu cases cause a scare

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 20, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bird flu cases cause a scare

Staff Reporter

Many consumers, who usually binge on chicken on weekends, are cringing away from it now

Bangalore: Bird flu cases detected in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have caused a scare among consumers here. Chicken consumers are worried about the spread of the disease and the possibility of their contacting the flu.

Many consumers, who usually binge on chicken during weekends, are cringing away from it. There are also a few who are putting up a brave face stating that branded chicken products are okay.

Chicken is supplied to the city live, and the conditions in which the birds are kept and slaughtered are by no means hygienic. This is further aggravated by the recent cases of bird flu.

People have expressed apprehension about the possibility of bird flu virus mutating to more severe strains, making it difficult for the scientists to contain its spread.

Some are even staying away from other fowl meat such as duck fearing that they too may be infected.

"I am going to stay away from chicken. I will survive on fish," said Amruta, a student. A few have vowed to stay away from meat of all kinds and become vegetarians. Raghuram, an executive in a software company, said he stopped consuming chicken abroad after visiting Shanghai last year. He has now reluctantly given up eating chicken because of the flu scare.

Even though the mortality rate among infected birds is reportedly 50 per cent, the public fear that it is the end of life for the infected.

The public health authorities must take urgent steps to disseminate correct information about the spread, treatment and the precautions to be taken.

Restaurant managements in the city are apparently ill equipped to detect the presence of the bird flu virus in their poultry stock.

This is all the more alarming as customers may unsuspectingly consume infected meat. In fact, managers of a few restaurants were not even aware of bird flu, much less its detection in India.

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