In February, we told you about a 5 day national consultation To come up with a readiness plan for the Avian Influenza Virus. Well the virus isn't here, and it may never reach, but with the bird flu, prevention is better than cure. And that's why the Ministry of Agriculture today held a public awareness session for professionals in the animal health and poultry industries. BAHA's Dr. Joe Meyers who is in charge of surveillance told us what needs to be done to contain the bird flu.
Dr. Joe Meyers, BAHA
"What happened is that a lot of people are not really abreast or do not know what Avian Influenza is all about and there are a lot of misconceptions also. The focus of this workshop is to have the Belizean public aware of Avian Influenza; the basic characteristics, what it is about, how it is spread, what are we doing to prevent it, and basically if the chicken is safe to consume or not.
We need to be very vigilant because as you probably know, Mexico, Guatemala, and Salvador have a low form of the disease and it is known that this disease can mutate into the higher form. This has been shown to happen in Mexico. So we have to be very vigilant and go about looking to see if it enters and then take the necessary steps."
Jules Vasquez,
Now I don't raise chickens, I don't live amongst chicken. I however like most Belizeans eat a lot of chicken. Do I need to be concerned?
Dr. Joe Meyers,
"Everyone needs to be concerned. But with eating chickens it is basically in the preparation; taking the necessary steps, hygiene, washing hands and washing surfaces that you use because cooking the chicken basically kills the virus. And as we know, Belizeans have a tendency to cook the food well so there is basically no or minimum risk of being infected through eating chicken."
Orlando Habet, Poultry Association
"The threat isn't a major concern for the human health side. For us in the industry we are more concerned about the aspect that the impact it would have on the industry if in the event we have any introduction of Avian Influenza into the country.
One of the major concerns for producers is that there be a compensation package. So we have approached the government of Belize to see if they can assist in this area because if a producer knows that the birds will be killed, they might not report it unless they know they'll be compensated for it. So we want to see if the government could have a plan in place for compensation and also the industry would have to have a program in place."
Today was only a half day session and it is part of an ongoing series of awareness and preparedness efforts.
