If one is cooking a chicken, can the H5N1 strain be killed by it?
119196
The ZOMBIE is right,IT IS INTERESTING;) \nCurrent International Research suggests that the virus is killed within seconds of reaching 70 degree C. Avoid food that conatins raw meat or eggs!any properly cooked chicken or egg poses no threat!\n\nBon Apetit
230874
It depends on what country you are in...here in my place we eat chicken andegg whenever we like to...\n\n\n\nAfghaistan, Albania, Austria, , Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, ,Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, , France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine National Authority, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland,Ukraine and the United Kingdomhave all suffered confirmed outbreaks in poultry or wild birds. (In rare instances, cases have also been reported in cats and Stonemartens.) Other countries are investigating suspected cases.
20916
When you carefully analyze the risk of contracting salmonella from raw eggs, you will find that it is actually quite low. A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this year showed that of the 69 billion eggs produced annually, only 2.3 million of them are contaminated with salmonella. So simple math suggests that only 0.003 percent of eggs are infected. The translation is that only one in every 30,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella infections are usually present only in traditionally raised commercial hens. If you are purchasing your eggs from healthy chickens this infection risk reduces dramatically. Remember, only sick chickens lay salmonella-contaminated eggs. If you are obtaining high quality, cage-free, organically fed, omega-3 enhanced chicken eggs, the risk virtually disappears.\nGuidelines To Ensure That You Are Consuming Fresh High- Quality Eggs\n\nYou can go to the American Egg board for a great overview of eggs. \n\nAlways check the freshness of the egg right before you consume the yolk. \n\nIf you are uncertain about the freshness of an egg, don't eat it. This is one of the best safeguards against salmonella infection. \n\nIf there is a crack in the shell, don't eat it. You can easily check for this by immersing the egg in a pan of cool, salted water. If the egg emits a tiny stream of bubbles, don't consume it as the shell is porous/contains a hole.\n\nIf you are getting your eggs fresh from a farmer it is best to not refrigerate them. This is the way most of the world stores their eggs; they do not refrigerate them. To properly judge the freshness of an egg, its contents need to be at room temperature. Eggs that are stored in the fridge and opened immediately after taking them out will seem fresher than they actually are. Eggs that you want to check the freshness of should be kept outside the fridge for at least an hour prior to opening them.\n\nFirst, check all the eggs by rolling them across a flat surface. Only consume them if they roll wobbly.\n\nOpen the egg. If the egg white is watery instead of gel-like, don't consume the egg. If the egg yolk is not convex and firm, don't consume the egg. If the egg yolk easily bursts, don't consume the egg.\n\nAfter opening the egg you can put it up to your nose and smell it. If it smells foul you will certainly not want to consume it.
630231
Well, if that was true then would it be cannibalism to kill and eat a chicken?  I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.  Why not with the chicken.  \n\nIf YOU thought of this question though I appreciate the way your mind works.
279734
Doesn't much matter what I think, or what you think. There will, or won't be a mutation in the current avian flu which will make it contagious in humans. But learing something about it will probably help with worrying. If you eat poultry, make certain it is fully cooked, both to prevent salmonella infection and to lessen any chance of passing on the avian flu. \n\n=======\nflu viruses\n\nFirst some background on flu viruses. It's a large family.  There are flus which infect birds (we're looking at a really strong one now -- it's killing essentially all of some species, eg chickens), which infect pigs (there was a swine flu panic during Gerald Ford's Presidency), which infect humans, and ... Usually, bird flus infect only birds, as in this case. There are only about two hundred people, and a few cats, known to have been infected with this avian flu. it's ot very good at infecting us -- so far. The really scary thing is that about 1/2 of them have died. Very few diseases have a mortality rate that high.\n\nFlu viruses sometimes swap bits with each other and acquire the ability to do new things, like infect another species. A pig flu infects a bird and the two flus 'mix and match' and produce a new flu capable of infecting a human, perhaps. Or some other combination. Most of this seems to go on in SE Asia, where duck ponds, a few pigs, and the humans family live in very close quarters. This cross species stuff doesn't seem to be all that common. Human flus have undergone major changes only every few years (2 or 3 since WWII) for instance, and if those changes are the result of this shuffling business, there's an indication of the chances of thsi one branching out to people. Perhaps.\n\n=======\nprior bird flus in humans\n\nIn fact, we know of only one large pandemic caused by a bird flu, or at least by a flu which had bird characteristics. That's the one in 1918, which has only recently been pinned down as a bird flu. Some researchers went looking for bodies which had been buried in the Arctic and remained frozen since 1918. After a decade's work digging in the permafrost, samples from them finally yielded enough information to reconstruct the 1918 virus, and it was a characteristically bird sort. It's still not clear what made it so deadly, but at least we're pretty sure what it was now. It popped up, killed something like 50 million folks around the world in 18 months or 2 years, and vanished.\n\n===========\nfuture possibilities\n\nIf the present bird flu changes enough to infect humans, and stays very contagious as it is now in birds and as nearly all flu viruses are, it may be a rerun of 1918 for humans. And if it retains its current lethality in humans (50+% so far, in a very small sample), it will probably be a good deal worse than the 1918 experience. We have more people, packed more closely, and with little margin (extra food capacity, medical capacity, sewerage and water capacity, ...), so things should be worse, all things being equal -- as they obviously are not.\n\nThere are a few things this bird flu does which appear to be new. When infecting humans, it seems to be able to spread by food. Most flus, human flus anyway, don't. This is new. And, it attacks nearly all tissues, while most human flus have largely been respiratory diseases. This is also new. Finally, it is essentially 100% lethal for chickens, also new behavior. Whether a changed avian flu which readily infects humans will contiue to behave these ways, or whether there is something specially vulnerable about the 200 some folks known to have been infected with it, is not known. It may be that lots of people have been infected, shock it off as a cold or something, and never saw a doctor. We don't know.\n\n==========\ndefenses\n\nUnlike 1918, we understand what we can do to beat any new flu variant. Vaccines work pretty well on all the flus we've encountered so far. The problem with deve
400707
It's highly unlikely, for the simple reason that it's not in the interests of a parasite to kill its host. It's far more beneficial to make the host sick instead, and even better if the host shows no outward signs of infection but continues cranking out parasites.\n\nThe most deadly virus of all time, the 1918 H1N1 flu, is in common circulation today -- in fact, you have probably been infected by it! However, its virulence and deadliness have dropped dramatically so it's no longer an exceptionally lethal virus. This is precisely what is expected.
261549
Because he wants to be seen as being ahead of the curve.  The CDC is Ginning up the horror mill again ( remember how SARS was going to KIll us all) H5N1 is a normal virus with a mortality rate of less than 1 percent. Way less, The regions of the country where there have been deaths, attributable to H5N1 or not ( it is inconclusive as to whether or not these individuals died of contact with this virus or another pathogen) have been reported as less than 100 people. And that is in regions where people sleep with their chickens. And incidental also home to 1/6 the worlds population so the actual Recordable mortality rate is some where around 100:1000000000. Yeah you counted it right 100 in a billion that you will die of this disease.  But hey Make Politics while the sun shines right?
203278
Tough Question - My glib answer is that it won't happen because I am taking precautions for an outbreak. Evey time I take precautions for a disaster nothing happens;) \n\nWhy I am worried is because one case of human to human transmission has happened in Thailand. Also the flu has a week incubation period and during that time it can be spread.   \n\nSpanish flu killed between 50 & 100 million in 1918 and started off as an avian virus. Experts say that the Spanish flu virus had 12 mutations which made it adapt from just infecting birds to infecting pigs and humans.  The mass fowl cullings around the world seem to be preventing any adapted viruses from starting a human pandemic. However the virus has reached countries that don't have the infrastructure, because of bad government, war and poverty, to identify and contain H5N1 in birds. This means that if the adaption happens it could get a foothold in the human population and then start spreading. \n\nThe next point is what do you mean by "really become  contagious?" \n\nMost of the models of the spread of a pandemic are based on past infections. Most predictions are scientifically valid but they depend on a number of factors that can not be controlled. If avian flu mutates to human to human it may become less lethal and it may not be as contagious as it is now. The only way that the statistics will be proved depends on what the H5N1 virus does next.\n\nThe range of the numbers show just how difficult it is to get a clear idea of what may happen. Here are some numbers I crunched based on assumptions and a worldwide population of 6 billion. Note fatalities are based on no medical treatment. \n\n1.) Bird flu stays in birds and can only be transmitted through eating uncooked chicken, exposure to dead birds and drinking or eating things that have been infected.\n% of world population that gets sick 0.000040%\nNo. Sick 2,400\n% fatalities 63.64%\nNo. fatalities 1,527\n\n2.) Bird flu mutates and is really weakened in the mutation \n% of world population that gets sick 25%\nNo. Sick 1,500,000,000\n% fatalities 0.50% (half a percent)\nNo. fatalities 7,500,000\n\n3.) Bird flu mutates and is as virulent as the spanish flu of 1918 (WHO figures) \n% of world population that gets sick 50%\nNo. Sick 3,000,000,000\n% fatalities 5%\nNo. fatalities 150,000,000\n\nThese models become scarier and scarier the worse the plagues and disasters used as a base. All they really say is that if there is a pandemic people, without medical help, will die. They don't say that it will happen. (If you want to really scare yourself or someone else do the maths on bubonic plague 80% infected and 80% fatalities).  \n\nSo overall I'll say there is a chance of this avian fly being the next pandemic. The chance is not so terrifyingly likely that I am going to sell up and move to a defendable mountaintop and start shooting at strangers. However the chance is big enough that I have spent about $100 dollars on Tamiflu and food - just in case. \n\nThe only people who have told me with a 100% certainty that the pandemic is going to happen and everyone will die are people who are trying to sell me stuff to survive the coming pandemic. I think they are pretty biased.
99149
Your info is unfortunately wrong. At the moment a H5N1 pandemic can't happen because the virus hasn't yet mutated to be able to transmit from human to human. Whether a person has human influenza or not will not matter in the least. Once that mutation has happened and the virus is spreading, anyone can get it. \nThe idea of hiding til it's blown over is rather futile. If it hits the US you would most likely get general quarantines quite quickly. The virus could easily be around for several weeks. \nAnd for unknown reasons, in the past all flu epidemics came in two or three waves, 1 to 4 months apart. Usually the second wave is the worst. \nAs far as increasing your chances of survival: \nJack up you immune system: \n-be fit, in good physical shape (exercise)\n- don't be too overweight\n- make sure your diet contains all necessary vitains, minerals etc. (you might want to start adding immune enhancing supplements, of course a lot of what is being sold does zilch)\nGet ready for some quarantine:\n- Get goggles, N95 face masks and rubber gloves so if you get in touch with other people, you won't get exposed to virus\n- carry a sprayer with desinfectant at all times and before you touch anything in public, spray it and afterwards spray your hands\n- Start building up some supplies: food, water, soap, toothpase, toiletpaper and whatever else you might need for several weeks\n\nYou see, it's quite a big order.
160933
The flu virus family is a big one. Some are characteristically bird flus, others are swine flus, others are human flus, ...\n\nThere's a considerable similarity amongst them (a family, right!)  and under some circumstances, a bird flu can swap bits with a pig flu or a human flu, producing a new variant. It's likely that this happens most often in SE Asia where duck ponds, people (including children) and pigs all live in very close quarters. This is probably the way the major flu pandemics (remember the Hong Kong flu?) in humans get started. \n\nUsually, bird flus don't bother people or pigs, and vice versa. But sometimes, there's enough of a crossover that a bird flu acquires the ability to infect people and spread easily. It happened in 1918, and that flu epidemic spread rapidly and killed something on the order of 40 or 50 million around the world in about 18 months. We know it was a bird type flu because the virus has been reconstructed in a research lab. These guys went looking for folks who'd died from that flu in the Arctic North and been buried in the permafrost. It took more than a decade, but it's recently become clear this flu, the 'Spanish flu', was a bird type flu. \n\nin the case of the current avian flu, it's not yet (if it ever will) acquired the ability to spread easily from human to human. It seems that you must be in close contact with infected birds to have much of a chance of catching it. But if you do, it's very dangerous. The mortality reat in the first few hundred reported cases was something like 50% and that's very very high. More recent cases in Europe seem to have a lower mortality rate, but that may primarily be an artifact of better care (eg, learning from prior cases). \n\nThere is little understanding of what changes would be required for this bird flu variant to become human infectious. There has been some speculation that it may be a few as two different gene changes. And perhaps the change(s) will never happen; no one has much of a real idea about the chances. And it's possible that, if it becomes infectious in humans, it will lose the lethality it currently has in humans. Or not, which is the scary case. \n\nTreatment for flu viruses is traditionally best via vaccine. However, since flu viruses change regularly and the vaccines are typically variant specific, it hasn't been possible to get it precisely right. Which variant will be the major issue in the coming flu season is hard to predict, but having guessed, it takes quite a while to produce the vaccine. It's a bit of a guess and isn't always gotten right. The avian flu is no different. \n\nA vaccine against the current variant would be pointless for humans, as it doesn't infect us very well. And if the virus changes to become infectious in humans, we don't really know how to develop a vaccine against a virus variant we haven't yet seen. And after we see it, it will take some months to produce the vaccine for it. \n\nWhat are the chances of drug treatment against a human infective variant of this avian flu? Not good, just as there aren't very good drugs against any virus infection. We have one or two drugs, of which Tamiflu is thought to be the best of a not very good lot. Governments have begun stockpiling it, against possible need. \n\n======\n\npossibilities\n\n1) The virus never acquires the ability to infect humans easily and to be highly contagious. If so, the current plague among birds will eventually burn itself out and there won't be much further issue. \n\n2) The virus will never acquire the ability to be highly contagious, but will learn to infect people much better than it can manage now and will retain its lethality. More people will die before the pandemic among birds finally burns out. Death toll might be in the thousands or hundreds of thousands, as compared with hundreds to date. it think this unlikely as the flu viruses have all had excellent c
92776
Currently to catch bird flu you need to inhale or ingest some bird poo. A microscopic particle of poo containing the virus is all it needs. The reason for the massive cull is to try and prevent more birds from becoming infected, becasue the more birds it is in, the greater the chance of a mammal such as ourselves or pigs of being infected. To mutate into a deadly pandemic, an H5N1 virus has to infect a cell at the same time as a mammalian flu virus has infected the cell. \n\nSo by destroying the birds in massive culling programs, governments are limiting the possibility of this happening.\n\nIt is safe to eat infected meat as long as it is cooked properly (over 70 degrees for 20min)
131330
Nahh,in fact anything now is considered as terrorist attack.Then, why you dont consider the Bird Flu as terrorist attack?
80749
Just keep a close watch on everyone.  If anyone gets sick, go to the ER or Dr.  Uncooked chicken will give you Salmonella Food poisoning!
330165
right now, you have very little to fear.  the avian flu rarely infects humans and even in the rare instances that it does, it can not be transmitted from human to human.  however, the virus that is currently infecting birds (H5N1) can also infect pigs and while in the pigs it can transform into a strain that can infect humans (do to surface protein affinity--very long story).  that's when you need to worry.  but it hasn't happened yet.
316976
Destruction of poultry - would that amount to an act of terrorism ? I don't think so. \n\nA better and more dangerous method ,appropriate to a terrorist mind would be to introduce the mutated(the ones which can spread from human to human by respiratory droplets) strains of Bird Flu into some country.The resultant epidemic and the large scale of deaths would create panic amongst citizens and thereby qualify as an act of terrorism.
508321
You cannot pass along food poisoning this way. It sounds like you need to clean out your fridge so that you eliminate the cause. My guess would be that the common denominator is in there.
244456
try http://www.google.com\n\nEnter string "H5N1" and ckllick search