Handle chickens carefully

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Health Ministry infectious disease control department director Dr Ramlee Rahmat urged people to practise personal hygiene when dealing with chickens or any other birds.
“Handle the chickens properly, use a face mask if necessary and clean yourself after handling chicken, especially their faeces,” he added.
Dr Ramlee said they were now in the active detection mode and were going door to door near Jalan Genting Klang to check for any bird flu symptoms.
“The team has to look out for people who need further investigation; they will be sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. We have to isolate and admit them for further treatment to check if their symptoms were of normal flu or of the H5N1 virus,” he said.
Dr Ramlee said, so far, they had no confirmation of anyone being infected with the virus.
On whether a human can get the virus from a bird, he said it would not be easy, but also depended on how close they were to the chickens.
“If you look at the other countries, there is a big difference between the number of chickens affected and the number of humans with the virus,” he noted.
“Passers-by should not be worried that they will catch the virus just because they see a chicken. Nevertheless, we want to take all safety measures necessary to ensure no one is infected.”
Norasiah Alang has been staying in Taman Sang Kancil in Kampung Pasir Wardieburn for the last 18 years but never before has she seen such busy activities there in such a short period of time.
“So many people visited us today, including health officials and the media. The health officials came to our house and asked about our well-being, if we were suffering from cough, flu or fever since Chinese New Year.”
All the houses visited by the officials were marked with a sticker to indicate that the household had been visited.