UN Viet Nam > WHO Viet Nam > Avian Influenza > Advice Sheets

 

 

Avian influenza (" bird flu") - Fact sheet January 2006

Advice for People Living in Areas Affected by Bird Flu or Avian Influenza

For poultry farmers and communities where humans live in close proximity with poultry:

The best way to prevent infection with the bird flu virus is to avoid unnecessary contact with chickens, ducks or other poultry. The highest risk is from close contact with sick or dead poultry but domestic ducks that appear healthy may also carry the virus.

• Children should be taught the following rules:

1. Avoid contact with any birds, their feathers, feces and other waste.

2. Do not play with poultry or keep them as pets.

3. Wash hands with soap and water after any contact with birds and always before eating.
   

• Younger children should be supervised to make sure they do not play with poultry or in poultry raising areas.

• If you or your children do have contact with poultry, such as touching the bird's body, touching its feces or other animal dirt, or walking on soil contaminated with poultry feces:

1. Wash your hands well with soap and water after each contact;

2. Remove your shoes outside the house and clean them of all dirt;  

3. Visit the nearest health care facility immediately if you develop a high temperature   (>38 degrees Celsius).
   
   
• Regularly clean the areas where poultry are kept:
  
• Wear a mask and gloves.
  
• Remove all feathers and feces.
  
• The ground where poultry walked should be cleaned with a broom.
  
• Poultry building or cages whether made with bricks or wood must be:

WASHED => BRUSHED => CLEANED with disinfectant.

• Be careful and wash your hands after cleaning these areas.
  
• Compost poultry manure before using as fertilizer
  

Proper handling of poultry that are ill, suspected of having bird flu or dead is an important control measure to prevent the spread of the disease:

• If you encounter sick and dead poultry, inform the animal health workers of your commune immediately.
• If you need to handle dead or sick poultry yourself wear protective clothing such as a mask, goggles, gown, rubber boots and gloves. If these are not available, cover your mouth with a piece of cloth, wear glasses, use plastic bags to cover hands and shoes and fix these tightly around wrists and ankles with a rubber band or string.
  

After removing gloves and protective gear wash your hands with soap and water

• Make sure to keep children away from dead or sick poultry.

• Never eat dead or sick poultry

• Never sell sick or dead chicken

• Never throw dead birds in to the river or pond.
  

Dead birds and their feces should be buried or burnt:

• As much as possible, seek assistance from your local animal health workers on how to dispose dead animals safely.
• All dead birds and other contaminated objects (for instance: manure, eggs, blood, feathers, egg, crates) must be destroyed properly as soon as possible through:
  

Burning

Place all the birds and objects in a container, carefully add some paraffin / kerosene / diesel and light a fire. Petrol is highly flammable and can cause explosions. Petrol should not be used.

Burying

Dig a hole (far from a well, pond, animals) in the ground, put some quicklime at the bottom and on the borders of the hole; put all the birds and objects in the hole; cover with quicklime; cove with earth.

•  When burying dead birds or their feces, try to avoid generating dust. Dead birds should be put immediately in a bag, then bury bird carcass and feces at a depth of at least 1 metre. Never throw dead poultry in the river.

•  When the dead birds and their feces have been properly disposed, clean and disinfect all areas very well.

•  The ground where poultry walked should be cleaned first (with a broom) then use disinfectants.

•  Quicklime is the cheapest disinfectant and should be used for ground and poultry housing.

• Spraying of disinfectants on vegetated outdoor areas or soil is of limited value due to the inactivation of these chemicals by organic material.

• After the area has been cleaned, remove all the protective materials and wash your hands with soap and water.

• Wash clothes in hot or warm soapy water. Hang them in the sun to dry.

• Put used gloves and any other disposable materials in a plastic bag for safe disposal.

• Clean all reusable items such as rubber boots and glasses/goggles with water and detergent, but always remember to wash your hands after handling these items.

• Items that cannot be cleaned properly should be destroyed.

• Shower/wash body using soap and water. .

• Take care not to re-contaminate yourself or the cleaned area by avoiding contact with dirty, contaminated clothes and items.

• Most importantly, wash your hands every time after handling any contaminated items.
  

Footwear should also be decontaminated:

• After walking around areas that may be contaminated (such as farms, markets or backyards with poultry), clean your shoes as carefully as possible with soap and water.

• When cleaning shoes, make sure that you do not flick any particles into your face or on your clothes. Wear a plastic bag over your hands, shield your eyes by wearing glasses or goggles, and cover your mouth and nose with a cloth.

• Leave dirty boots and shoes outside the home until they have been thoroughly cleaned.
  

People who have flu-like illness

• Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. Use a tissue and dispose it in a rubbish bin once used. Teach children to do this as well.

• Always wash your hands with soap and water after any contact with secretions from nose or mouth as these can carry a virus.

• Avoid putting your fingers in to your nose, eyes or mouth.

• Children are especially prone to touching their face, eyes and mouth with unwashed hands. Teach children the importance of hand washing after coughing, sneezing and touching dirty items.

• Seek medical advice immediately if you develop signs of illness, such as fever and/or flu-like symptoms and inform him/her if you have had contact with poultry.
  

Precautions should be taken when visiting friends or relatives in health-care facilities:

• If you visit a patient who has bird flu, follow the advice from the hospital staff to wear protective clothing, including a mask, gown, gloves and goggles.

• Such special protective clothing is required when you have direct contact with the patient and/or the patient's environment.

• It is important that the protective mask fits properly. If it doesn't, seek advice from the hospital staff.

• When you leave the patient's room you must remove these items and wash your hands with soap and water.

• Seek medical advice immediately if you develop signs of illness, such as fever and/or flu-like symptoms and inform him/her if you have had contact with a person suspected of having bird flu infection.
  

FOOD SAFETY ISSUES

Poultry and poultry products should be properly handled so that they are safe to eat.

If a bird is infected with the bird flu the person preparing the food is at risk of becoming infected and the environment may become contaminated. It may not always be easy to tell if a bird is infected. The following advice will help to reduce the risk:

•  Never slaughter or prepare (birds) for food poultry that are obviously sick or died of an illness.

•  Poultry meat is safe to eat if properly cooked all the way through. Meat should not be pink and should not contain any blood.

•  Eggs, too, may carry the bird-flu virus inside or on their shells. Eggs should be cooked thoroughly; yolks should not be runny or liquid (hard boiled).

•  Do not eat food made from raw poultry products e.g. traditional raw duck blood pudding.

•  When handling poultry meat for meals, do not touch your nose, eyes, or mouth with your hands.

•  Wash your hands frequently, including after handling frozen or thawed raw chicken, eggshell or raw egg.

•  Wash thoroughly with soap your hands, surfaces and utensils that have been in contact with the raw meat.

•  Separate raw meat from cooked or ready-to-eat foods or vegetables to avoid cross contamination.

•  Avoid using the same chopping or the same knife boards for vegetable, cooked and raw food.

•  Do not handle both raw and cooked foods without washing your hands in between.

•  Do not place cooked meat back on the same plate or surface it was before cooking without cleaning the plate or surface first.

Precautions for Poultry Butchers:

•  Do not buy already-dead chicken for butchering. Only healthy poultry should be prepared for food.

•  Use personal protection equipment such as plastic apron, mask, gloves, goggles, boots.

•  Wash hands frequently.

•  For killing, degutting and plucking, use a method that does not contaminate you or the environment of your household with blood, dust, feces and other animal dirt.

•  It is best to put poultry in boiling water before plucking feathers.

•  Do not touch other items or your face (e.g. rubbing your eyes) during the procedure, unless you have washed your hands with soap and water.

•  Clean cages and equipment frequently with detergent solution and dry in the sunlight.

•  Clean the butchering areas with detergent solution after butchering.

•  Take a bath with water and soap and change clothes after work. Laundry this clothe separately, dry on sun light.

Vaccinated poultry

Vaccines against bird flu are not 100% effective; this means that even when most poultry are vaccinated, a small proportion of them may not be protected from bird flu. Also, it is not possible to tell which poultry have been vaccinated and which have not. Therefore caution with handling poultry is still advised.