Don't get panicked with bird flu: Matiur Rahman

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Adviser for Health and Family Welfare ASM Matiur Rahman urged people not to get panicked with bird flu, which he said, fortunately has yet to attack any human being in Bangladesh and seven other SAARC states, reports BSS.
"Please don't get panicked as no bird-to-human transmission of the disease which is also known as bird flu, avian influenza or avian flu has been reported in south Asia," he said while speaking as the chief guest at a function at Osmani Memorial Hall in the city Friday.
Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University SMA Faiz, president of Federation of Biological and Chemical Societies (FBCS) Abu Zafar Mahmud and professor of Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) M Mansurul Amin also spoke on the occasion.
Matiur said the disease, which has claimed lives in other parts of the world, should be given high priority to protect the poultry population of the country.
The scientists and public health professionals have to play a vital role to control and prevent the disease. They should also be cautious to prevent human-to-human transmissions in future.
"Now the disease has been found transmitted in two routes- bird-to-bird and bird-to-human but the virus can be mutated to other forms and infect people to people," he said. Once the virus starts spreading from human to human, the disease would turn pandemic killing hundreds of people like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The adviser said Bangladesh was supposed to be attacked by avian flu from migratory birds much before it encountered the disease this year. The advance preparedness by the government has delayed the infection as well as helped manage the pandemic with little losses.
"Now we have brought the problem under control and approaching towards elimination," he claimed. He also sought cooperation from the media, development partners and others for complete elimination of the disease caused mostly from the virus H5N1.
The avian influenza, often confused with its two other names bird flu and avian flu, has attacked hundreds of poultry flocks in different parts of the country in early this year and forced farmers to cull nearly 100,000 chickens.
So far the virus, found chiefly among poultry but can occur in humans too, had outbreak in 60 countries including Bangladesh since its first emergence in 2003. A total of 192 out of 318 infected people died in 12 countries, mostly located in southeast and Central Asia as well as Africa.