By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
University of Georgia food microbiologist Mike Doyle says “the
likelihood is pretty low” that the harmful strain of avian
influenza will enter the United States food supply.
Two types
“There are two types of avian flu H5NI viruses: a highly
pathogenic virus and a low-pathogenic virus,” said Doyle,
director of the UGA Center for Food Safety in Griffin, Ga. “The
low-pathogenic virus has been around for more than a decade. The
high-pathogenic virus is the one linked to the deaths in
Asia.”
Doyle says the cases in Asia have been tied to people who live
near or handle live poultry.
“The difference is that the United States has fire walls in
place
to prevent such a virus from entering our food supply,” Doyle
said. “If infected birds were found in this country, they would
be quickly detected, quarantined and destroyed.”
The virus is known to be spread by coughing and inhaling,
Doyle
said. “It can also be spread if you touch something that has the
virus on it and then rub your eye,” he said. “There’s no clear
evidence that it’s transmitted by the oral route.”
Cook poultry thoroughly
Doyle says if an infected bird were to enter the U.S. food
supply, consumers can protect themselves by always thoroughly
cooking poultry products and washing their hands after touching
fresh poultry meat.
“If it enters the food supply through poultry meat or eggs,”
he
said, “research shows that cooking to 160 (degrees Fahrenheit)
will inactivate the virus.”
Georgia, which produces more poultry than any other U.S.
state,
tests every flock for avian influenza, said Mike Lacy, head of
the UGA poultry science department. So far, the state’s 1.4
billion chickens are avian-flu-free.
“Low-pathogenic avian flu is much like regular human flu,”
Lacy
said. “The chickens stop eating, decrease activity and have
respiratory symptoms like sneezing and coughing.”
Poultry industry safe-guard
To be on the safe side, chicken flocks in the U.S. are
slaughtered even if the low-pathogenic strain of the virus is
found, Lacy said, because of the remote chance that these flu
viruses can evolve into the highly pathogenic strain.
A world-renowned expert in foodborne pathogens, Doyle compares
the issue to that of mad cow disease.
“Mad cow is a minor issue in this country,” he said. “We
haven’t
had anyone get sick from acquiring it in this country.
Contracting it is a rare event and, again, we have fire walls in
place in the U.S. to prevent infected beef from entering the food
supply.”
