January 15, 2006
Safe traveling in Turkey
With bird flu cases being found in Ankara and Eastern parts of Turkey and infected chickens found in Istanbul, many tourists are reconsidering their planned trips to Turkey.
Tourists can still travel in Turkey safely, as long as they avoid all contact with poultry, surfaces contaminated with uncooked poultry, bird droppings, and feathers. Poultry farms, slaughter houses, butchers and markets selling live animals should be avoided.
The bird flu virus is present in the droppings of infected birds, poultry meat, blood, and eggs. The virus is killed by temperatures of around 160 degrees farenheit (about 70 degrees celsius), so when chicken is well cooked there should be no problem. The same applies to eggs, but runny yolks must be avoided.
Posted by James Trotta at January 15, 2006 2:47 PM
Can I ask a bit of clairification? Safe travel is possible as long as bird droppings are avioded, right? Unfortunately, after having travelled to several well-known tourist places I realize that avoiding bird droppings can be difficult at best. Many plazas and spuares have so many pigeons in them that there is usually quite a mess left. Are there certain types of birds that are more prone to carrying the virus than others? Just interested, thanks.
Posted by: Todd at January 17, 2006 9:34 AMI'm not sure about pigeons. Normally poultry carry the bird flu.
Posted by: James Trotta at January 17, 2006 6:56 PM