DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN BE INFECTED WITH BIRD FLU IN A RESTAURANT?

The video above is taken at 6.00 a.m. this morning. You can also view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ahk_i4jdw&feature=youtu.be

This morning, yarl restaurant turned on its loud and thunderous kitchen hood at 6 a.m. in the morning. Each time, when yarl restaurant's loud and thunderous kitchen hood wakes me up from my deep sleep, it is as though it is saying to me, "Wake up, wake up, wake up. I want you to write another article about me". And here I am, writing another article about yarl restaurant. In actual fact, each night before I sleep, I have already come up with an article for yarl restaurant in my mind for the next morning! As a former law student, I know that whatever I post in the internet must be true and backed up by evidence. In actual fact there are really many things to write about yarl restaurant but if they are not supported by evidence, I would not put them online. For instance, in one of my articles, I did mention that I saw restaurant workers pissing in the drain but since there is no evidence to support this allegation, I did not mention the name of the restaurant (It's not easy to take photos of people pissing in the drain because they don't piss at fixed times. And of course it's not possible for me to spy on them all the time. By the time I ran into my room to take my camera and fix it, they would have already stopped pissing). What am I going to write about today? It is the crows in these photos that give me the idea to write about bird flu today because there are so many  crows hovering over yarl restaurant as there are many garbage dumps here.

Frankly speaking, there are lots of crows in the neighbourhood. Just leave some foods outdoor and these crows will get them in no time. Since yarl restaurant's indoor kitchen is too small and the workers have to make use of the garbage dumps nearby to be their outdoor kitchen, eating crow infested foods is inevitable as the photos below clearly show. 

yarl restaurant's crow infested outdoor kitchen on 31 May 2014 at 8.30 a.m. Can you see the crows enjoying their meal on yarl restaurant's homemade table? This is where all the foods are prepared. Would you mind eating foods that are tasted by crows first before they get to you?

 

yarl restaurant's crow infested outdoor kitchen on 31 May 2014 at 8.30 a.m. See how the black crows are helping themselves to the foods on the dirty homemade table where foods are prepared!

 

yarl restaurant's crow infested outdoor kitchen magnified. There are many crows hanging around the neighbourhood waiting to help themselves to the foods  at yarl restaurant's open air kitchen. Happy eating and let's pray that you won't end up with bird flu.

 

 

yarl restaurant's outdoor kitchen with the dirty homemade tables that the workers use to prepare food (on 29 may 2014 at 10am). Would you like to eat foods prepared here? I am sure your tables at home are much cleaner than these. Why not cook your own food? Why pay so much for crow infested foods? Can you see the crow on the higher homemade table? This table is left outdoor all the time and is the crows' favourite landing ground. Although this table looks filthy and is only worth to be at the garbage dump, it seems to be yarl restaurant's most important asset. This is where most of the foods are prepared. If you look at the pictures below carefully, you will know how important these homemade tables are. Without them, yarl restaurant's workers cannot prepare food. You can also click here to view more photos about how foods are prepared at yarl restaurant's outdoor kitchen.

 

yarl restaurant's outdoor kitchen at 8.00 a.m. today, 3 June 2014 (This article is originally posted at 6.21 a.m. this morning and is edited to add this photo which is taken at a later time).

 

yarl restaurant's outdoor kitchen yesterday

 

yarl restaurant's outdoor kitchen yesterday

 

Is there the possibility of being infected with bird flu after eating foods prepared on yarl restaurants' homemade table at its outdoor kitchen? First, let us see how the bird flu virus (H5N1) is transmitted.

 

Waterfowl (ducks & geese) and gallinaceous birds (turkeys, grouse, chickens & quail) are most often associated with carriage of the H5N1 virus, but terrestrial birds such as crows, starlings, pigeons, and sparrows are also known to carry, and shed, the virus as well (see 2007’s EID Journal  Role of Terrestrial Wild Birds in Ecology of Influenza A Virus (H5N1).

As far back as 2008, we saw reports out of India of crows dying from the H5N1 virus. A little over two years ago India was again plagued with numerous wild bird die offs that were blamed on the avian flu virus (see Media Report: H5N1 Killing Crows In Jharkhand).

By mid-December of 2011 the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bhopal, confirmed that the H5N1 virus was behind at least some of these deaths. (see EpiSouth eweb_195_15_12__11.pdf). Over the next few months, even more reports came in, involving thousands of dead birds (see The Kolkata Crow Mystery & H5N1: A Murder Of Crows) that spread across several northern states.

On February  6th, 2012 official notification was made to the OIE of H5N1 virus detections in crows from four states; Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Bihar.

While India has reported a number of H5N1 outbreaks in Poultry since then - and at least one die off in pigeons (see Nov. 2012 Pigeon Droppings) - reports of the virus in wild birds have been noticeably absent the past 18 months.

At least, until this week, when the OIE was notified of two dead house crows from Keonjhar District, in Orissa state in Eastern India that were found to be infected with the virus.

Two dead house crows may not seem terribly important, but as the study below indicates, changes in the behavior of the virus in the wild can sometimes be a tip off that something is changing with the virus. This from just last October, in the Archives of Virology:

Investigating a crow die-off in January–February 2011 during the introduction of a new clade of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 into Bangladesh
Salah Uddin Khan, LaShondra Berman, Najmul Haider, Nancy Gerloff, Md Z. Rahman, Bo Shu, Mustafizur Rahman, Tapan Kumar Dey, Todd C. Davis, Bidhan Chandra Das .  

Abstract
We investigated unusual crow mortality in Bangladesh during January-February 2011 at two sites. Crows of two species, Corvus splendens and C. macrorhynchos, were found sick and dead during the outbreaks. In selected crow roosts, morbidity was ~1 % and mortality was ~4 % during the investigation. Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 clade 2.3.2.1 was isolated from dead crows.
All isolates were closely related to A/duck/India/02CA10/2011 (H5N1) with 99.8 % and A/crow/Bangladesh/11rs1984-15/2011 (H5N1) virus with 99 % nucleotide sequence identity in their HA genes. The phylogenetic cluster of Bangladesh viruses suggested a common ancestor with viruses found in poultry from India, Myanmar and Nepal. 
<SNIP>
Continuation of surveillance in wild and domestic birds may identify evolution of new avian influenza virus and associated public-health risks.
(Continue . . . )

As the H5N1 virus continues to evolve into new clades or strains, its behavior across various species is likely to change as well. Two years ago, in Differences In Virulence Between Closely Related H5N1 Strains, we looked at a study that found that genetically similar strains can exhibit significantly different pathogenicity in specific hosts.

Making any perceived change in how the virus presents or spreads worth noting. Thus we cannot deny the fact that yarl restaurant's crow infested outdoor kitchen does have a role to play in the transmission of the bird flu virus. Let's hope that you won't get infected with bird flu after eating foods prepared on yarl restaurant's homemade table at the outdoor kitchen.