On our guard

The reason for that unsung victory has as much to do with culture as with official action. Despite our bad attitude towards littering, Trinbagonians are basically very clean people.

This is especially so when it comes to food, and the cooks who do not clean food properly, particularly chicken, and who do not wash their hands umpteen times while cooking, will not find their food eaten. And that, along with the public education programmes which were run at the time, is why Trinidad and Tobago never had a cholera outbreak. We have also taken inoculation and prevention programmes very seriously, and so have managed to keep up with the world in eradicating once-common diseases like malaria, yellow fever and polio.

Now we face a new threat — the bird flu pandemic that is plaguing Asia. Last week, an outbreak of a fungal infection at a chicken farm concentrated the national mind on the epidemic that has not yet reached our shores. Indeed, once the public was assured that the infection was not the dreaded avian influenza, chicken farmers were quick to take the media to task for sensationalising the story. As a matter of fact, the media did no such thing. We raised the possibility, as was our duty, and had to do so because, as officials from the Agriculture Ministry complained, the farmers were tardy in reporting the outbreak.

Indeed, the country is probably fortunate that this fungal infection happened, since it will hopefully serve as a warning to farmers that they cannot watch their pockets with the avian flu having reached South America. They have a public duty to report any suspicious outbreaks to the Agriculture Ministry as soon as possible. If they do not, they must feel the full force of the law.

Officials have also warned that the avian flu could reach our shores through the illegal trafficking of birds. This may be almost impossible to prevent with Venezuela so close, so the authorities must make it their business to go to rural communities and educate the people there about the dangers of avian flu.

With all that said, we must emphasise that the prospects for preventing an outbreak look good. As reported in our feature story in the last Sunday Newsday, washing your hands often is a good way of preventing the spread, not only of the avian flu, but of the common cold. So that habit is wise practice in this extended rainy season, when the wet and chilly weather can weaken the individual’s immune system.

Additionally, the virus does not jump easily from bird to human, so the many lovers of chicken meat amongst us need not worry about consuming their favourite dishes. At the same time, we want to warn the general public not to be complacent. This is a situation where an ounce of prevention is worth several tons of cure.