Bidar: No one got bird flu by eating chicken or eggs - all the 170 cases of human infection reported across the world were due to careless handling of infected poultry, bird pathology expert Vivek Patil has said.

He was speaking at a seminar on bird flu, organised by the Association of Veterinarians and the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sciences University, in Bidar on Thursday.

Chances are that the disease will not spread here easily as Indian food is usually cooked at high temperatures, Dr. Patil said.

He advised housewives to cook chicken or egg at a minimum of 70 degree centigrade for a few minutes, to make it safe. The bird flu virus cannot survive in high temperatures. However, it can stay alive for very long if it is frozen. Autopsy specimen of animals that died due to bird flu in 1918 were re-examined recently. They were still found to have active pathogenic virus strains, he said.

Hygienic lifestyle

The virus assumes new forms when it passes from one species to another. Therefore, it is difficult to invent preventive drugs or vaccine, he felt. "However a hygienic lifestyle and clean food habits easily help us keep off such infections," he said.

He found fault with the media for devoting much time and space for stories even remotely connected to bird flu. "Media houses should introspect about the damage that such reports can cause to poultry industry," he said.

`Prices will stabilise'

Veterinary university Vice-Chancellor R.N. Srinivas Gowda felt that losses suffered by the poultry industry can be fully recovered in around three months. Prices of chicken and eggs will stabilise in a month, Dr. Gowda said.

At present, the nation-wide poultry industry's losses are in the range of Rs. 60 crores to Rs. 80 crores a day. The losses occurred as a fear psychosis was created in the people. The Government has been able to restrict bird flu to the Navapur taluk in Maharashtra. Tests have confirmed that no human being has been infected until now. Such reports in the media will definitely help us undo the damage, he said.

Dr. Gowda said that the Union Government has released Rs. 8 crores to the Indian Virology Institute, for developing a vaccine for bird flu. He expressed confidence that scientists will develop a vaccine within a year. Among those present were Deputy Commissioner Munish Moudgil, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Antony Mendonca, Deputy Conservator of Forests P.C. Ray and Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry M.B. Devraj.

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