Amidst speculation of possible human-to-human bird flu transmission in Thailand, reported bird flu cases in Malaysia had already hindered poultry and eggs imports into Singapore. The fried rice I had consumed for the past week or so was devoid of eggs and just over the weekend I was surprised when the duck rice stall did not have duck.
I am not a fussy eater and will consume whatever is available. However, I remember the furore caused when the connection between the "Mad Cow Disease" or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and humans was uncovered in Great Britain in the 1990s when several young people died of a human brain disorder, a new variation of a rare brain disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), which typically strikes elderly people. There was a shortage of beef for a period of time.
It is frightening to think that almost all the food we eat might be susceptible to contain some kind of infection as we live in a world where new diseases are continually being discovered. Imagine the pandemonia that would be unleashed should the diseases mutate and be passed on from human to human. Then the sinister scenario depicted in Resident Evil would just seem probable.
Prevention is better than cure. When the first cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) emerged in mid-November 2002 in the Guangdong Province of China, the world was kept on its toes to prevent the infection from spreading. It made the local people more conscious of hygiene and even spitting in public was frowned upon. Indeed hygiene should not be taken for granted and careful practices should also be adopted by all the respective industries and agencies to stamp out the spreading of diseases.
Yet slip-ups are inevitable. To err is human, to moo bovine.
1 comment:
Ha Ha! Thanks Pyro for the rhyme!
Post a Comment