Reem Leila reports on the on-going battle to contain the spread of avian flu The speed at which incidents of avian flu have decimated the once thriving poultry industry -- which had attracted LE17 billion of investments and on which an estimated 2.5 to three million people depend for their livelihoods -- has shocked many. Despite ministers' claims that the spread of infections is being contained and new outbreaks of the disease are dying down representatives of the poultry industry, which until early January provided 60 per cent of all the animal protein consumed in Egypt, have accused the government of spreading panic. Retailers have demanded they be allowed to re-open their shops and sell live poultry under the supervision of the Egyptian Veterinary Medical Association (EVMA). Such shops were closed by government decree shortly after the deadly H5N1 virus was identified in Egypt more than two weeks ago. "The poultry industry has been devastated. The government has offered to buy our chickens for three pounds per kilo when we used to sell them for seven. And there has not been a single human case of bird flu," said poultry merchant Talaat Sami. Nasr Al-Sayed, head of preventative measures against bird flu at the Ministry of Health, says the H5N1 virus has been identified in at least 15 of Egypt's 26 governorates, and in the city of Luxor. Until now no human cases of the disease have been reported and 80,000 doses of Tamiflu, an anti-viral that can lesson the effects of H5N1 in humans, have been distributed around Egypt. Wholesale culling, he believes, has helped stem the disease, particularly in rural areas where culling has begun on commercial poultry farms that contain infected birds. El-Sayed revealed that one of the Health Ministry's greatest concerns at the moment is the possibility of cross-species infection. Pigs, cats and dogs can all carry bird flu viruses. They also carry human flu viruses and therefore provide a breeding ground for possible mutations of the virus that could then be transmitted from human to human. "We fear the virus could mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans and trigger a global pandemic that could kill millions. Pigs, cats and dogs do not show signs of being unhealthy, and it is impossible to tell if they are infected without testing," said El-Sayed. "Pigs, in particular, can act as a mixing bowl for chicken and human viruses." The Ministry of Health is now considering the possibility of eliminating street cats and dogs, and is examining ways of preventing the spread of avian flu through pigs. Domestically reared poultry, on which many poorer families depended both for their own tables and to supplement income, has now been outlawed entirely in urban areas while in rural districts birds can only be bred domestically under very strict conditions. And according to EVMA head Ahmed Tawfiq, dovecotes should now be relocated from urban areas for while pigeons do not become infected with the flu they can act as carriers. Anyone seeking to breed poultry or birds domestically in rural districts must now report the number and kind to the EVMA. "EVMA branch officials will then check the levels of hygiene in the place where poultry is to be bred, and the birds will be subjected to on-going monitoring. Fowl must be kept indoors and not allowed to wander in the streets so they can be watched closely and precautionary measures taken at the right time," says Tawfiq. Mohamed Afifi, owner of a chicken farm in Al-Sharqiya says, "it is a nightmare for any poultry breeder or merchant to embark on the mass culling of chickens and to prevent the retail live poultry." Many breeders and merchants, he reports, are hiding chickens rather than allowing them to be slaughtered. And even if affected governorates manage the Herculean task of tracking down and culling poultry the next challenge will be how to replace them. "I cannot foresee how replacing lost birds is possible," Afifi adds. Tawfiq believes that restrictions will not be lifted in the foreseeable future and could well be in place for seven months or longer -- as long as it takes, he says, to bring bird flu under control. Meanwhile, officials are examining ways to encourage the import of greater quantities of frozen red meat to help combat surging prices as demand increases.
