Word: sicklied
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...existing biosecurity measures by testing some birds in every flock for the most dangerous types of avian flu before they leave the chicken house to be slaughtered. All the birds in an infected flock would be put down immediately, and the surrounding area quarantined. "Our strategy is to keep sick birds on the farm," says Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council. "Once the virus escapes into the environment, it's very hard to control...
...course, before you can contain a sick farm, you have to know where it is. That's where the latest in geolocating devices comes in. Poultry veterinarians have been mapping U.S. commercial farms with handheld GPS tools (similar to the electronic navigational readers many people have in their cars) and entering the locations into large computerized databases for use in an emergency. They have even used the popular free software program Google Earth to fine-tune the positions of some chicken houses. That way, if the industry's testing program ever turns up evidence of H5N1 infection, officials will know...
Vaccinating against avian flu could potentially avoid those problems since inoculated chickens don't get sick in the first place. But while some European farmers have begun doing just that, the idea seems impractical in the U.S. "If you have to put down a flock, you lose maybe 50,000 birds," notes Lobb. "That is much easier than trying to vaccinate 10 billion birds, which is about what we will produce this year...
Luckily, developments in medicine since then have led to the understanding that stressing the body by gorging or starving yourself while sick will not improve your health. Although a 2002 research article published in New Scientist suggested that eating and fasting elicit different immune responses that would tackle different types of pathogens (bacteria v. virus), the results were inconclusive. Harvey can’t think of any studies that have shown that drastic changes in eating habits will shorten the duration or ease the symptoms of a cold or fever...
Harvey recommends that the next time you get sick, whether it’s a cold or the flu, take care of yourself! Check out the Harvard University Health Services website for some great self-care tips. Overall, getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, using a humidifier, and gargling with warm salt water will all be much more useful than chowing down on that extra...