Avian Flu: How to Protect Yourself?
In the countries of Southeast Asia, poultry runs right through the city streets. If you ordered some chicken dish in a street cafe, then you can be sure – at most yesterday, your lunch was bathed in dust right there, on the sidelines. Tourists, as a rule, like this, because everyone knows: a chicken that has lived its short life in the wild is much tastier than the one that grew up in the cramped cages of poultry farms. But this year, the preference may be given to broilers. Experts from the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) are sounding the alarm: a new strain of the H5N1 avian influenza virus has been discovered in Asia.
For the first time, human infection with this virus was registered in 1997, and since then, doctors from international organizations have been closely monitoring those countries where it was most common. By the way, Russia is not included in the list of these countries. We only had a few small outbreaks in 2005, and in all cases the infection did not spread beyond one village. But the specialists had to watch Asia carefully, and it was not in vain – people began to die from bird flu again. This year, 8 cases of the disease have already been recorded in Cambodia – and all those infected as a result died. Among them was a child – a six-year-old girl. It turned out that the outbreak was due to the fact that the virus mutated and stopped responding to old vaccines. This adaptability is characteristic not only of avian flu, but also of the common one – so we have to get vaccinated before the start of each seasonal epidemic. And this is precisely what creates an eternal cause for excitement – suddenly this time it will not be possible to create an effective vaccine or the virus will learn to mutate too quickly to be effectively dealt with.
So far, the new virus has been found, in addition to Cambodia, in Vietnam and China. But the WHO fears that things will not be limited to Asia. Experts say that this time the bird flu could spread all over the world, even covering the territories of those countries where no diseases have been recorded before, for example, Bulgaria, Israel and Romania. However, it is still not clear to what extent such forecasts can be trusted.
In 2009, when ordinary people had already forgotten the bird flu, a new “scarecrow” appeared – the H1N1 virus, which was called the swine flu. WHO announced that the world is on the brink of a pandemic – a global epidemic that will sweep across all continents. And then a very unpleasant scandal broke out. The pandemic danger was declared by WHO for a reason, but because a group of specialist consultants, led by the Dutch doctor Albert Ostenhaus, insisted on it. And he, as it turned out, received money from several pharmaceutical companies that produced a vaccine against the A / H1N1 virus. It is not surprising that many now believe that the interests of big business are behind the new “promotion” of bird flu. Among the skeptics was the host of the “Medical Secrets” program on NTV, a practicing doctor Aleksey Khukhrev. “I think that someone has simply run out of money, so we need to earn it,” he said in an interview. – Remember: when the swine flu appeared, all supplies of Teraflu were immediately sold out. The pharmaceutical business is very profitable, so everything is serious here. ” Khukhrev also recalled that the danger of bird flu is greatly exaggerated: after all, it is not transmitted from person to person, so the chance of infection is small: “Every year, hundreds of thousands of people die from ordinary flu, and a little more than three hundred died from the bird flu during the last outbreak. The only serious international problem with the flu – the so-called “Spanish flu” – was in 1918-1919. Then there really was a pandemic. And what is happening now looks more like speculation. ” The chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko also agrees with Alexei Khukhrev. “Over the years, the virus has never found a way to spread from person to person,” he said recently. “To date, there is no scientific evidence that this situation has changed.” But in any case, Onishchenko assured, the situation will be closely monitored.
Prevention: how not to get sick?
Try to refrain from traveling to areas where there have been cases of avian influenza… At the moment, WHO considers Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam to be dangerous. And if you really have to be there, wash your hands more often, drink only bottled water, refuse ice for drinks and do not order chicken and omelet in restaurants.
Buy eggs and poultry only domestic, well-known manufacturers.
If you have poultry, don’t let them go for a walk. during migrations and make sure your pets are vaccinated.
If you feel symptoms of a disease, do not try to identify yourselfthat with you – the usual flu, avian or generally a cold. And even more so, do not self-medicate. See a doctor immediately.