After three bird flu outbreaks hit flocks in different parts of China, sales of poultry in the country's main cities have taken an 80% nosedive. Health experts say that if China cannot prevent future outbreaks of bird flu among its flocks, it is only a question of time before people become infected. According to Chinese authorities, no human in China currently has bird flu.
Even though the price of chicken has dropped 50%, many people are shunning the product and going for other sources of protein.
Health officials say it is not possible to catch bird flu from well cooked chicken or eggs. For a human to catch bird flu he/she needs a lot of contact with live birds. It is possible to catch bird flu if you are involved with the slaughtering of poultry and some of the birds are infected. Bird droppings can also be a source of infection. In some rare cases, humans have caught it from other humans, but only if a person was treating an infected patient and was touching him/her a lot and with him/her for a long time.
For the moment, it is not easy for a human to catch bird flu.
Within the last few weeks there have been three important outbreaks of bird flu among flocks in China. One was in Inner Mongolia (chickens and ducks), another in Anhui and another in Hunan.
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