Is it safe to eat chicken in Bangkok?

You cannot get the avian flu by eating chicken meat. Only by contact with live birds.

A good resource for information about the avian flu is www.cdc.gov They have a whole section on the avian flu.

Yes, why not?

There was a 4 page story in our "Good Weekend" magazine, free with every Saturday Sydney Morning Herald. It was about the present strain H5N1 of avian flu specifically in Vietnam. It seems it can be caught from eating infected ducks flesh. Frightening article and although it won't stop me travelling to Japan, I won't be returning to Vietnam for several reasons, one of which is "experts warn it is only a matter of time before the virus mutates to become a devastating pandemic". Food safety & hygiene is not "high on the list" for Vietnam, and many other Asian countries, including China & Hong Kong. Not so sure if Thailand is as unhygienic. All that chilli kills most stuff, however I'm not laughing!

I suggest reading the travel advisory page on cdc.gov. CDC is the Center of Disease Control in the U.S.

http://www.cdc.gov/travel/other/avia...5n1_031605.htm

It mentioned the duck cases that Lyndie may be referring to. People got the H5N1 from <b>uncooked duck blood</b>, not cooked duck meat.

Hi there-the article I read said &quot;a hearty soup made from simmered duck innards AND raw ducks blood&quot;. A soup that is simmered sounds like cooked to me. I don't wish to split hairs, however many times I've ordered food and not really known what it contained. Seems poultry in some Asian countries, cooked or uncooked, may not be absolutely disease free, if the media is to be believed.

Well you summed it up 'if the media is to be believed', I would have thought having a soup that contained raw blood from any species could have potential problems.

Lyndie, when raw blood is added to a dish (it's traditional to add chicken's blood as a thickening in some French dishes) the dish is removed from the heat, so the blood doesn't really cook. This is apparently the source of the infection rather than cooked duck meat.

Experts are concerned that the H5N1 virus will mutate to allow person to person transmission. However, that has not yet happened. All of the major health organizations are watching this carefully.

Thanks Kathie for the most specific info. When we were in Hong Kong in Mar 2003 I watched as a shop assistant coughed up a lot of awful stuff right near a lift full of people. We were about 10 metres away...Urk.....so we're off to get our flu injections tomorrow. I suspect they probably won't protect us from all flu bugs but we're hopeful! Thanks again for the clarification.

Lyndie- I'm planning to spend some time in Vietnam this summer (2005). I was wondering what some of the &quot;several reason&quot; you have for not planning to return to Vietnam (excluding the possible Bird Flu reason). Are these other reasons safety and health related? Also, when were you last in Vietnam?

Lyndie - When you were in Hong Kong in March 2003, SARS was spreading there, and that was a lot more contagious and deadly than avian flu. You were right to be worried, but the avian flu is nothing like that.

FishRich: We visited Vietnam in July 2003 and Dec 2003.On our first visit we did not have time to see Sapa so added Sapa onto our trip to Laos, Cambodia and Thailand in Dec 2003. We had a bad experience in Hanoi with lots of kids on motorbikes during Asian Games time and we encountered a lawlessness I have not experienced before, in any Asian country. It was late at night, the Police could not control the thousands of bikers and even our taxi driver was afraid. When I got some money out to pay him, many youths attempted to get into the car and started bashing on the roof. I was afraid, also. There does not seem to be any respect for aged Vietnamse people, there are obvious health (read avian flu) &amp; social issues (complete disregard for authority). The population is a young one with a huge restlessness and I guess we just did not feel comfortable. Actually we could not wait to leave! We've travelled many places and this was the first time we both were uneasy. Just our opinion. Others will disagree and I respect that, however we have no reason to return to Vietnam.