You must have been wating in the news that a new country gets added to the list of countries where chickens have caught bird flu and in some cases humans have contracted bird flu.

In the event of bird flu pandemic we know govt. may provide us some vaccines. Nobody knows today if these vaccines will work.

Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from bird flu?

Prevention is better than cure and so if you are really afraid of contacting bird flu , i would advise you to stop eating chickens.
TK
Sidenote : My wife said that in india, they have said that however you cook the chicken , you still have a change of contacting bird flu virus (if it is contaminated). The only exception is very hard boiled eggs. I guess tamiflu vaccine/tablet is not available OTC in Canada and so you canot innoculate yourself with it beforehand as a precaution

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

Hi all

I have the following information from a recently telecast Oprah Winfrey show and a show on an Indian channel (I think the latter was CNN-IBN)

1. Do not take Tamiflu as a PREVENTIVE measure unless the doctor advises you to do so. If you do, your immune system will not help you when you actually HAVE the flu virus.

2. The bird flu virus is released from an infected chicken mostly through its feaces and from then on it is an airborne disease. So may be you should check the egg shells before you buy eggs.

3. The virus is decapacitated if subjected to temperatures of over 70 deg Cels. for 30 minutes. So undercooked chicken (tandoori and stuff) and undercooked eggs should be avoided.

Hope this helps.

Bird flu need not be feared per se - the danger that all health authorities are secretly scared of is if (or when) the virus mutates to merge with a human virus so that it can transmit itself between humans.

So far there hasn't been a confirmed case of human-to-human transmission (1 suspected case in Vietnam, but not confirmed).

The blame squarely lies with the large farms that cram thousands of chickens in small cages in unhygenic and diseased conditions that has created this particular situation.
And the respective governments that have allowed this to go on and turn a blind eye.

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"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."

-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"

My original post was what preventive measures can one take if it jumps to human. The reason for asking the question was if the pandemaic strikes, there be shortage of everything right from vaccine, docotrs, nurses, hospitals etc. Is there anything one can do to reduce one's risk. I was thinking more on the lines of how to boost your own immune system.

A lion, a gorilla and a chicken are talking in a pub. As often happens in pubs, they began boasting. The lion said, "I'm the King of the Jungle because when I roar everyone runs out of the jungle". The gorilla said, "That's nothing. I'm the King of the Jungle because when I beat my chest everyone runs out of the jungle screaming".

Both the lion and the gorilla turned to face the chicken who says, "Roaring, beating, pah! That's nothing. When I sneeze ten million people shit themselves!"

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"Ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light?"
"I always ask that of all my prey."
"I just like the sound of it."