On a visit to the “ArmProdExpo 2005” November 5, President Robert Kocharyan was careful to attend the pavilion featuring Armenia’s hard-hit poultry industry.
Tasting a chicken snack, the President joked: “This is not made from the flu-infected bird, I hope.”
The President’s aim at putting a light touch on concerns about bird flu aside, the impact of rumors mixed with legitimate concerns continue to be no joking matter for Armenia’s poultry farmers and producers.
As previously reported here
sales in chicken-related products dropped 25 percent in Armenia when birds infected with “Aviary Grip” were found in Turkey and Romania.
Then, about a week ago, false information spread in Yerevan that all the hens in one of the largest poultry plants had died. The rumor was enough to further scare off shoppers and raise concerns in the bird business about how to rebound from the fall.
“How can bird flu penetrate into a poultry producing plant,” wonders Armen Hambartsumyan, Production Vice-Director at “Lusakert”, one of the largest plants in the republic. “In the plants hens do not get in contact with wild birds; moreover, the disinfection and supervision services are made stricter.”
Hambartsumyan told ArmeniaNow a day-round control has been set around the plant and hunters are in place to shoot down any wild bird in the plant’s airspace (adding that wild birds in the area are rare, anyway).
“In October the sales of our fowl have decreased for up to 40 percent, egg sales have dropped 10 percent,” says Hambartsumyan.
“Argo” poultry plant – which sells ducks, turkeys and live small chickens – suffers even more severe setbacks.
“The demand for our production has dropped for more than 50 percent during the last weeks,” says Argo director Artak Ghazaryan. “We suffer damages for unknown reasons. The demand drops day by day.”
Health specialists have responded to public concern and commercial distress with routine statements, assuring that Armenia is under no threat of bird flu.
“Armenia is equipped with the necessary laboratory facilities and diagnostic tests that give opportunity to decide whether there is the infectious H5N1 strain, or not,” said Vladimir Davidyants, Armenia’s Senior Sanitary Doctor. “Up to now no bird flu strain has been found in Armenia.”
Davidyants further stresses that import of poultry products from Romania, Russia, Turkey and Southeast-Asian countries, as well as live birds from neighboring Iran to Armenia is strictly prohibited.
“Bird flu does not pass from human to human. There is no need to worry, we work with all the embassies and know one by one how many people have entered and left the country,” the doctor says. “The sanitary outlets at the borders take all the necessary measures against the disease.”
Additionally, the disease control office has issued a list of 28 kinds of birds – including sparrow, magpie, crow – that could be bird flu carries, to discourage hunters from eating game.
Chief Epidemiologist specialist Ara Asoyan says although there is no vaccine against bird flu, Armenia is ready to withstand the disease.
“Armenia has a certain quantity of ‘TamiFlu’ medicine for treating the illness,” says Asoyan. “And we are ready to fight against bird flu.”
The “certain quantity” of “TamiFlu” is sufficient for 20 people, and was given to Armenia by the Armenian community of Argentina.
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