HAZHYN, Ukraine (AP) – Bird flu hasn’t reached Ukraine, but in this village where chickens and geese run freely, residents are debating what to do if it reaches them. They fear it’s only a matter of time.
In the past week, the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu appeared in Romania, which borders Ukraine to the south, and advanced into the European part of Russia, which lies to Ukraine’s east.
“I heard on television that bird flu is dangerous for people so I am ready to kill all of my birds to save the life of my grandson,” said Yevheniya Honkevych, 57, as she watched the boy, 5-year-old Nazar Tihiy, race around their yard after the 20 or so birds that the family keeps.
Slaughtering their flocks would be a big blow; domestic birds are an important source of income and food in this impoverished ex-Soviet republic. So far, there is no need.
But Ukraine remains on high alert. On Oct. 17, an infected swan was discovered in northern Romania, just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Ukraine’s border.
The H5N1 strain has killed 60 people in Asia, and scientists worry that it will eventually mutate into a strain against which humans have no defenses, setting off a pandemic.
This country of 47 million has already strengthened controls over the poultry industry, banned wild bird hunting and urged Ukrainians to keep their birds inside – advice few appeared to be heeding.
But Mykhail Pikulya, 39, who has numerous domestic birds as well as about 10 pigeons as pets, admitted to feeling nervous.
“I spent so much money on my birds and now I can lose all of them,” said Pikulya, who keeps a horse, pigs, cows, hens and geese.
He said that if bird flu was confirmed in Ukraine and the government ordered a cull, he would want to see it carried out with his own eyes. “How can I be sure that authorities will not sell the birds at the market,” he asked.
In addition to fears of a human pandemic, Ukrainians were also concerned about what they would eat. Poultry is often the only meat that many Ukrainians can afford.
“If no chicken is sold, I don’t know what to do,” said retiree Halyna Yakovlenko, 55, whose monthly pension comes to about 300 hryvna ($60, 50 euros).
Lyudmila Muharskay, a top health official, said the Health Ministry was pushing to increase the country’s stockpiles of ordinary anti-flu medicine. Ukrainians in areas considered high-risk, near the Romanian border and near wet lands where migratory birds are often found, have already started receiving vaccinations.
Such shots are given to prevent more-common flustrains so that if a person gets infected with the bird virus, there is no human flu strain inside the body to mix with and create a dangerous hybrid.
“Of course it will appear in Ukraine,” said Nadezhda Chymil, 72, who lives in a small village Belogorodka near the capital Kyiv, with a sense of resignation common in this ex-Soviet republic.
She keeps 40 hens and chickens and already plans to slaughter them to freeze the meat.
“It is the only way out as I need to feed my grandkids,” she added.
