Friday, June 08, 2007

Bird Flu in Sungai Buloh - An Update

Five villagers from Kampung Paya Jaras Hilir -- four men and a woman -- are now in the Sungai Buloh Hospital for observation after showing flu-like symptoms.
They were admitted yesterday (Thursday June 7 2007).
The youngest is an 11-month-old child and the eldest, a 35 year-old.
Bernama quoted Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek as saying that the patients are in stable condition.
Dr Chua said they were staying within the 300m radius of the area where chickens were tested positive for the A/H5 virus.
"They went to the hospital to get treatment and have been isolated because of the symptoms," he said in a statement today.

Here is the rest of the story:
"Dr Chua said until 6pm yesterday, checks had been conducted on 476 houses and 3,204 residents of Kampung Paya Jaras Hilir and Kampung Kubu Gajah in Sungai Buloh by the Selangor Health Department officials. "So far, there's still no case which meets the definition of the avian influenza infection among humans detected," he added. Dr Chua said a total of 187 officers were involved in various operations to prevent and monitor the disease, including 22 at the Sungai Buloh Hospital isolation ward and 55 from the Veterinary Services Department. He said health education programmes would continue to be conducted in the affected areas and an additional 530 health pamphlets and health alert cards would be distributed to the residents."

I don't want to panic. And I am not panicking. The thing is, we were declared free from bird flu in June last year, and now there are cases in Sungai Buloh. It is an understatement to say that this is bad news.

Lee Ah Fatt, the president of the Federation of Livestock Farmers Association says that the bird flu is confined to "backyard poultry" in Sungai Buloh and is therefore an isolated case.

What does it mean? It always starts as an isolated case.
He also thinks that the "outbreak" was likely to be related to the illegal imports of pet birds or fighting cocks.
I am supposed to be comforted by this "fact"?

Lee also urged the public not to boycott chicken, chicken products and eggs since those commercially produced are not affected by the H5N1 virus.

I'd really like to know how the disease got to Sungai Buloh. Was it brought by the movement of pet birds or fighting cocks in an illegal import syndicate, as claimed by Lee?
Let's hope that authorities are looking at every possibility.
Nothing is confirmed but it smacks of poor enforcement somewhere, some place.

For the record, I am comforted by reports that the relevant authorities are continuing relentlessly their operations to contain the disease in Sungai Buloh.

14 comments:

Hi&Lo said...

Lee Ah Fatt talking cock. He is an interested party representing the livestock farmers.

Farm chicks safer with growth hormones and antibiotics even in the feeds?

Bird flu and many other animal-to-human diseases unheard of during the time when poultry not so commercialised.

zewt said...

i think we should get to know the symtoms already...

been coughing for more than 3 months... i think i need to be careful.

Anonymous said...

We agree with you NURAINA.

To declare a country, any country, to be Bird-Flu-free at this time, is almost a case of deception by the authorities in that country.

What is more, the Global institutions such as the WHO are complicit in this, by raising no objection to such declarations.

The reason for such announcements by the powers that be, is the pressure that they face from the commercial interests such as tourism and trade.

The problem with the declaration of a Bird-Flu-free status, is that it can lead to relaxing of attitudes regarding this dangerous virus in that country.

The-Best-Bird-Flu-Blogs-Team

www.birdflubreakingnews.com

Mat Salo said...

Thanks for highlighting the issue, Kak Ena. I am afraid that the authourities are "downplaying" this, and then what have we?, an event like China's, ingat tak?

Be worried, people. Be very worried. Like zewt said, we need to highlight the symptoms and whether the country has enough Tamiflu stock...

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Hi&Lo:
That's what I thought. Frankly, I am wondering where the poultry supply from Sg Buloh goes to.

i always find the authorities' attitude towards effective enforcement a mystery. they close one eye to many (bad) things, and when the situation gets out of hand, they go the extreme. and then when the situation returns to normal, its back to being lackadaisical.
whichever way you want to look at it -- you cant help seeing that someone had surely slacked somewhere for this to happen.
sometimes I wonder whether they know the ramifications of not doing good enforcement,especially in an area that affects the health and lives of people.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Zewt,

you are right. We should.

Zewt, the cough sounds bad. think you should go back to our doctor and have it checked again?

Take care.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NURAINA A SAMAD said...

mat salo,

i responded to yr comment with a long reply.
i deleted it because it was so long-winded.

so i am going to give it another shot.

bro, we can only hope that the authorities will realise that giving the truth and the true picture is far better than downplaying (as u put it) the truth, or spinning the story because at the end of it, we will all know the truth.
you cannot hide death statistics, can you?
you cannot black out grief, can you?

Hey, Mat Salo, heard u're in Penang. Coming home or not?
Tuesday can make it,or not, to Kak Ton's place?

Anonymous said...

I ate a large portion of chicken legs a few weeks ago. Now i am feeling queasy hearing about the chicken flu scare. i just dont trust the govornment. are they transparent enough? Nobody knows. In the meantime i am praying hard i will stay healthy. Of course i am consuming more beer in the hope beer will drive away chicken flu. cheers.

Rockybru said...

Two kids in Kedah have been hospitalised. Suspected avian flu. That's about 300 km away from Sg Buloh. I hope they don't say it's an isolated suspected bird-flu case.

Anonymous said...

That's it!

I'll eat no more chick, no more cock.

Amir Hafizi surely have an answer for this problem.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

ahirudin (Rocky):

Should somebody with credibility and without any personal or business interest come out and publicly say tht it is safe to consume chicken and chicken products?

The Health Ministry through the relevant agency should make some kind of announcement to that effect, no?

oh dear. more cases n some place far.

thanks, rocky.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

nstman,

yeah....yes. go easy on the chicken.

cheers!

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Rocky,

In the same report, it says that the 2 boys in Kedah tested negative and are free from bird flu.