COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH

(Part 1 of 2) Communities with free roaming chickens have been the ones hardest hit worldwide for the H5N1 virus, commonly known as ‘the bird flu’. This is because transmission of the disease requires contact with infected birds, or contaminated surfaces. When chickens roam free (particularly in urban areas), playing children come into contact with contaminated surfaces, slaughter debris is carried in the gutters, and people simply walk on contaminated surfaces while heading to school, work or the local store.
In 2003, the bird flu spread over a great deal of Asia. In 2004, it reached Malaysia. By 2005 the flu was in Russia, Mongolia, Turkey, Romania and now the bird flu has spread to so many places it is truly a ‘global disease’. It is also a disease that kills more than half of the people who catch it. Healthy people, young people - the bird flu does not discriminate.
But it is not a pandemic yet. According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) a disease is not a pandemic until it presents three characteristics. To be a pandemic, it must: Infect humans, be a serious illness and spread easily and sustainably. The bird flu scores 2 out of 3, and medical authorities say it is only a matter of time before the bird flu masters human to human transmission and becomes a major scourge for this planet.
We can only hope that a pandemic is far into the future, and take steps in the meantime to protect the country from the disease that is already out there, and heading our way. Birds need to be kept in enclosures, called ‘coops’ or ‘aviaries’ that prevent them from mingling casually with humans and other chicken stock.
Free roaming chickens not only present a major health risk to Grenadians the potential economic impacts could be catastrophic. A bird flu outbreak in Grenada would not only have a dramatic impact on Grenadians through loss of life by those who die, but gathering up the free roaming birds for slaughter would be a dangerously time consuming task. In addition to this, if the bird flu was found in Grenada, this would cause serious quarantine issues for international travellers, because it would be virtually impossible for a person travelling from Grenada to declare they had not been on a farm recently. Grenada is a farm.
A key defence for the bird flu is containing the birds. Another defence is preparing the health community to deal with an outbreak, as its arrival is inevitable. Another defence will be the subject of next week’s article, where we will explore one creative way to help Grenada withstand the social, and economic impacts of the bird flu pandemic, when it arrives.