The bird flu is a contagious disease. Wild birds, swans and ducks carry the germs of this disease in their appendix, but they usually don’t get sick. On the contrary, they infect the family birds and that disease becomes fatal for those families of birds. There is a low risk for human contraction of the bird flu. The disease may infect those who have direct contact with infected birds. The first case of the bird flu infection was registered in 1997. The symptoms for bird and human flu are the same: coughing, high temperature, inflammation of the throat’s mucous membrane and then sharp lung inflammation. At the present, there is no medicine which fights against this disease. Today, the bird flu remains in the center of attention for South Asian countries, Russia, Turkey, Greece and Rumania. According to the data given by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 150 million birds have died or perished from the bird flu during the past couple of months; the number of infected humans is 120 and half of them are fatal. The World Bank plans on providing 300-500 million dollars to the countries that have registered deaths as a result of the flu. No birds or humans have died from the flu in Armenia. But it is obvious that the people of Armenia may also face that danger. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia have come to the agreement to immediately inform the Health Ministry in case any bird gets infected with the bird flu. Starting from October 7, the Ministry of Agriculture has put a ban on imports of bird products from Russia, Rumania, Turkey and South Asian countries and the import of live bird products from Iran. The Ministry of Ecology has informed us that there are three sites where there are ducks, swans and other wild birds. Those sites are: Arpi Lake (zones close to the border of Georgia and Turkey), Lake Sevan and Black Water River (Armash territory). These are the sites where the bird flu is most possible to be present. With the intention of preventing people from getting infected with this disease, head of the Hygienic and anti-epidemic department Artavazd Vanyan said that even though there is no medicine for the bird flu, they are going to get a medicine for seasonal flu which will reduce the possibility of getting infected with the bird flu by raising immunity. According to Ara Asoyan, who is the head of the infection department of the Ministry of Health, claims that there is a less chance that the bird flu enters Armenia because the season for bird migration is over.
There is one other problem besides all of this-the people are not informed about this infection. On one hand, the world is in panic, and on the other hand some scientists say “Don’t be afraid, it all depends on destiny. If it happens, it happens.” Whom and what to believe? People state the fact that they are scared to buy bird meat. The workers at the stores and “grills” certify that there is no real danger. “Our family eats bird meat and nothing has happened so far.” In addition, most of the restaurant workers that prepare meals with chicken meat don’t even know if that is local production or not.
The bird flu virus, according to chief sanitary doctor Vladimir Davidyants, can be found in the bird’s blood, meat, egg and the waste, however, that is eliminated if the bird is cooked well. According to WHO, the danger is that not all parts of bird meat are cooked together. WHO specialists recommend convincing yourself that the yolk of the egg is hard before buying the egg and wash your hands with soap and hot water a couple of times after cutting the bird meat.
What does the producer have to say?
“People’s safety is above the interests of the producer,” says owner of “Max-Concern” Armen Valyan. According to him, all corresponding officers are working towards bird flu prevention which also has something do with the producers’ interests. A. Valyan believes that the information must be provided for the people by specialists and not the producers. Today, the Lusakert poultry farming factory has set a quarantine regime, nobody can come and go as he or she pleases and the birds are kept in closed bird farms. Different specialists of this field, different people with their interests certify that none of the local products are infected with the bird flu virus. “Each producer must worry about how safe his product is. We must let the specialists of the country’s corresponding bodies to also solve that problem,” says A. Valyan. In regard to the decrease in demand, he stated that although there is panic, however, there has been no decrease in the demand for bird or chicken meat.
I am signing
A couple of days ago, I saw a written announcement in a store: the “Arax poultry farming” open-stock company has organized a self-defense “demonstration”. The announcement stated that the bird meat produced by the company had been examined and there was no virus. The non-informed consumer can get the impression that there is bird meat from another production which has not been examined and there is no real danger. Even more, everyone knows how easy it is to write a document. Whether that be “Arax”, “Lusakert” or “Arzni”, all the poultry farming factories are taking steps toward fighting against the epidemic by taking into consideration the safety of the people and personal interests.
During an interview with us, chief veterinarian of the Republic of Armenia Grisha Baghiyan said that they are continuing to take prophylactic steps with the purpose of preventing the epidemic from spreading: “There is no bird flu virus in Armenia and in my opinion there will be no virus in the near future. I am ready to sign under any document,” said the chief veterinarian of the Republic of Armenia.