Korean Job Discussion Forums

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Is this true or not?

My wife says it's come to Kwangjin-ku in Seoul. They found some dead birds with it near Techno-Mart.

that guy · Joined: 29 Feb 2004 Location: long gone

Seems like it has

nobbyken · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Location: Yongin ^^

Do you think fried chicken is OK?

that guy · Joined: 29 Feb 2004 Location: long gone

angel of bob · Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Location: Seoul

AI isn't transmitted like mad cow. It's not a food borne illness. I got really frustrated with some of my students about this, so I looked it up quite recently.

In the past week one of my co-workers told me that I should not eat chicken because I would catch bird flu. Previously she had told me that the "acid rain" in Seoul would make my hair fall out, and has said other things that would lead me to guess that she has a problem interpreting information. Yesterday, my 6th grade students also told me that mommies wouldn't let them eat chicken anymore because there was "more bird flu." Which I found very curious, why was everyone talking about bird flu? Question answered.

Um, here's a quick summary of the Wikipedia page, from what I gathered mixed with other stuff. Avian Influenza is dangerous/scary because of its potential outbreak in the human population, think 1918 Spanish Influenza in the States (really really bad), and because viruses are always changing and adapting to vaccines. It's spread through bird saliva, poop, and other bird mucuses , and it can be transmitted through various bird populations, ducks to migratory birds to chickens, etc.

You would be at greatest immediate risk, this is my intuition, if you were a poultry handler, farmer, or unfortunate enough to be around a lot of bird poop from infected birds. Eating chicken is okay, however it might be best advised to shut down your underground cock fighting rings and 500 won baby chick businesses.