Taipei, Jan. 25 (CNA) People have to maintain a proper perspective on animal-health related diseases like avian influenza and mad cow disease and treat them seriously but not panic, an animal health expert told CNA Tuesday.
"Of course, BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) is serious. Avian influenza is serious, no question. But they can be dealt with by managing risks, " said Norman Willis, the honorary president of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) . Willis is currently on his fourth visit to Taiwan.
"It's probably better to 'over-react' than to not prepare, but people have to keep it in perspective. Treat it seriously, but not panic," he said.
Citing measures taken by the Canadian government to deal with BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease, as an example, Willis said Canada tries to eliminate all sources of infection from the human food and animal feed chain and conducts aggressive surveillance of cattle. "It's a risk managing system, " he said.
By eliminating the specified risk materials (SRM) from the human food and animal feed chain, the other parts of the animal, under OIE guidelines, are considered safe to trade regardless of the status of the countries, Willis explained.
SRM are defined as the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, tonsils, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle aged 30 months or older; and the distal ileum of cattle of all ages.
As for avian influenza, Willis said that "infection of humans seems almost exclusively associated with contact with domestic fowl. That's where the infection has come from. There's very limited evidence of human-to-human transmission."
"The concern with avian influenza is that it has the potential to mutate and become easily transmissible among humans," he noted.
To deal with these diseases, the point is to develop "a harmonized system of rules, " he said. "And as science improves, the OIE will change the rules to accommodate (the system)."
The OIE is an independent and intergovernmental organization established in 1924 to deal with animal-health related issues. It currently has a total of 167 members.
Willis said he hopes the media can play a bigger role in educating the public about the facts about certain diseases.
"And it's an obligation for people like me to explain to you (the media) so that people don't worry excessively, " he added.