[Psymoussy]

I ate mostly chicken and fish in Thailand in Feb/March recently. I am not sure what's the official advise is though. Everyone was eating so I thought why not me?

[exschke]

what really worries me is that according to the latest news in Thailand, it's not only chicken and ducks, but also pigeons, which fly wherever they want freely.
but maybe I'm safer in Thailand than back here in Europe, here the influenza epidemics are quite severe every winter because of the cold temperatures, so probably the chances of the two strains / varieties combining are greater back here. (luckily, I have never ever had influenza in my life, others usually catch it yearly.)
and I'm also afraid of the media making a huge fuss about it, in an effort to scare people into buying more medicine and more tabloid newspapers. I don't want to downplay the danger, but I would expect more facts and less hysteria from the media in general.

[Squeernemergo]

What's the situation in Thailand with regard to the bird flu? Here in The Netherlands there's hasn't been any news about it since a couple of months.

Is it still safe to eat chicken in Thailand?

[soydaykam]

I was in Thailand during the Bird Flu scenario so I didn't get a chance to eat my favorite dish. I went to a meeting at a hotel on Sukumvit Rd, snack and beverage were served, but there was nothing with chicken whatsoever. I haven't read a newspaper since I came back so I'm not sure how the situation is in Thailand and other Asian countries.

[snunsebrugs]

luckily, I have never ever had influenza in my life

You know, this may not necessarily be a good thing. One possible reason is that you are blessed with a natural immunity to all strains of the influenza virus. Another is that you take your flu shots regularly, thereby granting you immunity. But the last possbility is that you are lucky. Now if it is the last possibility, then if you happen to come down with flu (which I pray not), it would hit you hard because your immune system with not be able to deal with it effectively, having never encountered it before.

I hate the bird flu. Although I have next to no chance of coming into contact with the H5N1 virus and its variants, what it means is less chicken and eggs available, leading to an increase in price for chicken and eggs. This leads to a diverted increased demand for other meats, which results in an increase in price for all meats. I guess I'll be better off eating the vegetables.

[euylvaygdq]

According to this This article in today's Sydney Morning Herald Thailand's 13th victim of this round of bird flu died after cooking and eating sick chickens. It is very possible to contract the disease if you do not clean up properly after preparing the chicken for cooking. This means thoroughly cleaning utensils and surfaces, as well as washing your hands with soap and warm water. The chicken should also be thoroughly cooked (i.e., no blood). Preparing chicken with open cuts on the hands is also not a good idea.
IMHO

[ClorrerVeks]

In UK we are stock piling enough flu vaccination for 2 shots per person but there is no vaccine for bird flu yet and even when the strain is known it will take months to manufacture it. There are plans being made at the moment to stop travel, large groups of people and to close schools if a pandemic strikes. We also have a large number of birds migrating to spend the winter here. At the moment the media is only reporting what the head of the Health Service is telling them but Betti is right and reporting tends to say the worse of everything as soon as they can because doing that sells more newspapers.

At the moment bird flu is only spreading through bird populations and it hasn't changed into a strain which is easily spread amongst people. When it does and if it mixes with 'normal' influenza there will be many more deaths than an normal year. I think UK recently quoted a minimum of 50'000 deaths (UK only) but the BBC is reporting that a health official at the UN is saying a world-wide total *could* be 150 million. The WHO doesn't agree and they say it could kill between 2 and 7.4 million which is still a large number of deaths. Either way, bird flu does have a high mortality rate amongst people who catch it.

I hope the UK plan to deal with a pandemic if it arrives is good enough and a lot will depend on how quickly a vaccine can be manufactured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4292426.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4270755.stm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/02/bird_flu/

[DOWNLOADnowADOBEphotoSHOP]

Well last I herd in Australia, there is a contingency plan in Australia, if this bird flue spreads world wide and gets out of control, they may vaccinate every one in Australia. Now there is some cases of bird flue in Europe as well, this is getting a little out of control, but don't be alarmist just yet, but there is always the possibility if another world wide black plague, if they don't manage this problem and as you know it is easier to stop the problem early, than when it gets out of hand.

[exschke]

50,000 sounds high enough but I was surprised to hear at BBC the other day that Britain has as many as 25,000 deaths a year from "normal" influenza as well.
similarly, in the end SARS was found to have the same mortality rate as average pneumonia - out of 1500 infections, there were about 150 fatalities in Taiwan if I remember correctly. still 150 too many, but.... that's also the daily number of road accidents casualties there, and nobody quarantines entire cities because of that.

[Enfotanab]

I can see cooked meat as being safe;but it is in the handling of raw meat and cross contamination where my concern would be.

comment from health expert is " stran of bird flu can be distinguished by high temperature , prefer we should cook the chicken well than we don't fear chicken flu ..

[Psymoussy]

I am curious as to how Thais never really got effected by it being so close to the effected areas in the earlier attack? Even with so many tourists entering here than many places? Does this seem to effect some people more than others? Or is it the same for all? Anyone know...

[euylvaygdq]

Or we could all follow the example of our Issan family and neighbors and get more protein from insects and reptiles. I do love my silk worms...and the frogs are pretty tasty too. LOL

[cokLoolioli]

The sad part is Betti you speak the truth. You know they could lessen the hype on nearly any health issue, but it is as simple as you say, they just would not sell as much.

[Avaboormavoro]

According to this This article in today's Sydney Morning Herald Thailand's 13th victim of this round of bird flu died after cooking and eating sick chickens.

Sorry, it was the 13th victim since 1994, not from this latest round of bird flu.

[giftplas]

I can see cooked meat as being safe;but it is in the handling of raw meat and cross contamination where my concern would be.

[ClorrerVeks]

In UK we have just had our first bird die from bird flu but luckily the bird (a parrot) was in quarantine so there shouldn't be any and risk to the bird population or people:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4367810.stm

[SDorothy28]

Ok that's what I wanted to hear

Thanks guys