# Bird Flu?



## mugsy27 (Oct 12, 2005)

But i have to ask this.

Do any of you plan on altering your chicken / egg eating habits due to the bird flu scare??  I understand that you can get it by breathing the air just as easily, but do you think you can help tilt the odds in you favor by avoiding chix/eggs?
Also, do you think that eating free range will help?

Sorry if this is a foul in the fowl forum... but i had to ask!!


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## jennyema (Oct 12, 2005)

Yours is a very good question!

Supposedly bird flu is transmitted to humans through contact with infected live poultry and is not spread to humans through food.

So I am not going to change of my eating habits.



Yet ...


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## foodaholic (Oct 12, 2005)

Depends.For example in Ontario Canada we can only purchase Ontario chicken,actually each province can only sell within their province.Our poultry board at work protecting the industry and insuring that our product (poultry) gets worse and worse tasting each year.


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## CanadianMeg (Oct 12, 2005)

I'm not changing my eating habits. Like foodaholic, I'm eating Canadian chicken and we haven't had problem where I am.


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## Constance (Oct 12, 2005)

I don't think that will be necessary. The chickens and eggs we eat are raised here in the USA, USDA inspected and all that. 
Quite frankly, I don't think free range chickens are all they are cracked up to be. My dad, who grew up on a farm, used to call them grasshopper chickens, and that was fairly discreet,  considering what all they eat. I know several people around here who raise their own "good country" chickens, and, to me, they have a "strong" taste. 
I'd rather have a Tyson
.
The problem comes from people in Asia who live in close proximity with their animals.There is a very informative article about it in the last National Geographic. The virus keeps mutating until it spreads from the animals to the people, then person to person. Now that there are so many people traveling to all corners of the world, it doesn't take long for something like that to spread.

I think our best defense against the flu is to keep our bodies healthy and put the right things in it. Our bodies have built-in defenses that work very well, but just like your automobile engine, if you put junk in it, it can't run efficiently. The right food, sufficient liquid intake, enough sleep, exercise, and a good mental state will be our best defense against illness. 
That being said, I have RA, which is an auto-immune disease, and this threat is pretty scary to me.


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## amber (Oct 12, 2005)

I dont plan on changing my eating habits either.  While I have concerns and will keep a watchful eye out for the spread of this flu, at the moment I dont have cause to worry.


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## Robo410 (Oct 12, 2005)

much is spread thru fecal matter so it is those working and lliving in close proximity to the birds.  eating cooked chicken or eggs should not spread the disease.


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## middie (Oct 12, 2005)

nope i like chicken too much !!!!!!


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## pdswife (Oct 12, 2005)

Nope.. 
but if our chickens show even one sign of sickness... they're gone.  Bye bye birdie!


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## mugsy27 (Oct 12, 2005)

pdswife said:
			
		

> Nope..
> but if our chickens show even one sign of sickness... they're gone.  Bye bye birdie!



just curious...if they do show just a slight sign of sickness, and u kill them..what do you do with em after?

not trying to be funny either, i have never had chickens but know enough to know they are dumb as nails. when i was a kid i watched one die from drowning while staring up at the rain.

i have always wondered how something that tastes so good could be so dumb!


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## BlueCat (Oct 12, 2005)

As a person who came within hours of dying from complications of the flu in February of this year, I can say that I'm frightened out of my wits about the bird flu scare. I lived, and now only have a fairly minor heart problem from my illness (although I had a number of other organ failures and even a paralyzed vocal chord that have now healed). A woman who had it a week earlier than I did, died from the flu, and a young teenager who was brought into the hospital while I was there, has now had a heart transplant and has lost several toes from his bout with the flu. 

There is no evidence, however, that there is anything to fear in the cooked birds we eat. It's spread in the ways mentioned above, but there have been no cases of anyone catching this from the food they ate. It is mostly airborne particles, from what I've read, that we need to be wary of.

I am a little nervous that they have decided to recreate the strain of influenza from 1918 so they can study it further. The 1918 flu pandemic killed 60 million people worldwide. The carelessness I've read about in certain labs, for example, when someone recently lost a vial of smallpox spores, makes me wonder about the safety of such a study. In closing, I guess I'm saying that I think we have bigger worries with this flu than eating cooked chickens and eggs.

BC


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## pdswife (Oct 12, 2005)

mugsy27 said:
			
		

> just curious...if they do show just a slight sign of sickness, and u kill them..what do you do with em after?
> 
> not trying to be funny either, i have never had chickens but know enough to know they are dumb as nails. when i was a kid i watched one die from drowning while staring up at the rain.
> 
> ...


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## Tater Tot (Oct 13, 2005)

mugsy27 said:
			
		

> But i have to ask this.
> 
> Do any of you plan on altering your chicken / egg eating habits due to the bird flu scare?? I understand that you can get it by breathing the air just as easily, but do you think you can help tilt the odds in you favor by avoiding chix/eggs?
> Also, do you think that eating free range will help?
> ...


 
As a butcher In trade I am covered in chicken blood by the time I go home..Pulling chicken boxes from over head I get blood in my face and mouth and I have yet to get anything from the birds.. Plus cooked to 180F I think your safe..

The ToT


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## Tater Tot (Oct 13, 2005)

BlueCat said:
			
		

> As a person who came within hours of dying from complications of the flu in February of this year, I can say that I'm frightened out of my wits about the bird flu scare. I lived, and now only have a fairly minor heart problem from my illness (although I had a number of other organ failures and even a paralyzed vocal chord that have now healed). A woman who had it a week earlier than I did, died from the flu, and a young teenager who was brought into the hospital while I was there, has now had a heart transplant and has lost several toes from his bout with the flu.
> 
> There is no evidence, however, that there is anything to fear in the cooked birds we eat. It's spread in the ways mentioned above, but there have been no cases of anyone catching this from the food they ate. It is mostly airborne particles, from what I've read, that we need to be wary of.
> 
> ...


 
As long as we are not in contact with the feathers or waist of the birds then we are safe...Did you get mad cow last year? 

If your worried look at the report by the American Free Press....http://www.americanfreepress.net/index2.html


The Tot


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## HeyRobi (Oct 13, 2005)

I have to agree with the cows! "Eat more Chicken!"

HeyRobi


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## Tater Tot (Oct 13, 2005)

Constance said:
			
		

> I don't think that will be necessary. The chickens and eggs we eat are raised here in the USA, USDA inspected and all that.
> The problem comes from people in Asia who live in close proximity with their animals.There is a very informative article about it in the last National Geographic. The virus keeps mutating until it spreads from the animals to the people, then person to person. Now that there are so many people traveling to all corners of the world, it doesn't take long for something like that to spread.
> .


 
They work in and live in the bird waste, Many not washing..Of course it will spread there...

The Tot


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## auntdot (Oct 13, 2005)

Right now, as I understand it, the threat to us is not from Tyson's but from the virus mutating, as Constance said.

There seems to be no agreement among experts that a pandemic is inevitable.

Will continue to eat chicken until, and unless, there is a warning that it is not safe to do so.

But then again, I ate British beef during the BSE scare, MOOOO.

LOL


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## Ishbel (Oct 13, 2005)

Having lived through the British BSE crisis - I can honestly say that I didn't change my eating habits then, because I only ate fresh Aberdeen Angus beef (there was never a case in any Scottish herd of any breed, but I prefer AA) - and because my family never eat processed meats, eg in pies, hamburgers (except home made) etc, there was absolutely no risk.

I feel the same about avian flu.  We only eat organically raised chickens from a local supplier (2 miles down the road!) and organically raised eggs.

BUT, I am diabetic - and have the regular 'flu jab every winter.  It will not stop me getting avian flu, though - and I suppose it is a matter of concern - but I'm a great believer in the old Scots saying 'Whit's fur ye, willnae go by ye'. 

Interestingly, on the BBC  news this morning, the importation of chicken from Romania was banned as they have announced cases of avian flu.  They join Turkey in the banning of their chicken and egg products.


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## BlueCat (Oct 13, 2005)

Tater Tot said:
			
		

> As long as we are not in contact with the feathers or waist of the birds then we are safe...Did you get mad cow last year?
> 
> If your worried look at the report by the American Free Press....http://www.americanfreepress.net/index2.html
> 
> ...


 
Why were you quoting me on that post? I agree that it is not anything to be afraid of with chicken that we eat. The fact that I'm afraid of the bird flu becoming an epidemic stems from the theories I've heard that it will soon mutate and be able to be spread from human to human. That is a very real threat.

BC


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## Tater Tot (Oct 14, 2005)

BlueCat said:
			
		

> Why were you quoting me on that post? I agree that it is not anything to be afraid of with chicken that we eat. The fact that I'm afraid of the bird flu becoming an epidemic stems from the theories I've heard that it will soon mutate and be able to be spread from human to human. That is a very real threat.
> 
> BC


 
I didnt mean to offend you..I was thinking of another message when I quoted you..sorry for the misunderstanding...And I agree..The CDC has confirmed atleast 1 human to human infection..

Tot


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## Tater Tot (Oct 14, 2005)

auntdot said:
			
		

> Right now, as I understand it, the threat to us is not from Tyson's but from the virus mutating, as Constance said.
> 
> There seems to be no agreement among experts that a pandemic is inevitable.
> 
> ...


 
Eating the flesh as long as its well cooked should be fine..The flu should not reach our birds but its the human contact that should be the scare and not the KFC


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