Bird Flu hits Bangalore

Still hung with the 'so good' taste of hot & crispy boneless bucketful you ate at the nearest KFC restaurant yesterday? Well then, don't fear on seeing this post; "People need not panic as the influenza has not spread as of now" says Mr. Revu Naik Belamagi, the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Govt. of Karnataka.

Image Courtesy: The Telegraph

High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal confirmed that the blood samples of Turkeys drawn from Central Poultry Development Organization & Training Institute, Hesaraghatta, Bangalore were tested positive for Avian Influenza (H5N1) virus, following death of many turkey birds since early this October. Immediate to the report from Bhopal, all turkey birds were culled & safely disposed; a 10Km radius area around Hesaraghatta was declared 'Alert Zone'; sale of poultry meat & eggs was prohibited and movement of all poultry & its products from and into the alert zone was also banned.

A short personal interruption; I had earlier drafted a detailed writeup to publish, for this being my 100th Blog post, which was then edited to fit well within a paragraph in view of Social Awareness gaining importance. Even now, am finding it hard to accept the fact that I somehow managed to creep across the milestone, which should sincerely be attributed to all my readers for their constant support and encouragement. In our recent conversation, Dr. T. S. Ramananda who is a well-known writer and one of my role models suggested me that I try to publish a Book since this Blog is reaching a limited audience. Following his thought & this 100th post, am seriously thinking to bring out a compilation of some selected posts from this Blog of mine in the form of a Book. Hoping for the possible best, I shall soon consult my personal sponsor regarding this - my Wife :o)

Rapid Response Teams consisting of Veterinarians, Para-vets & supporting staff have been already formed to tackle the present Avian Influenza (commonly called as Bird Flu) chaos and also to take up further investigations, followed by appropriate measures to cull infected birds and dispose them off safely; thus checking further infections. As in this case, professional hazards have always been a challenge to Veterinarians and Para-vets, who deserve all the credit for keeping the situation under control. Appropriate services are also being extended by officials and staff from the Department of Health, Police & BBMP in this regard.

Since its first occurrence in humans in 1997, AI (H5N1) virus has been of utmost importance worldwide for it being the most pathogenic strain of its group and its ability of undergoing mutation to infect humans as well. Typical bird flu symptoms in humans include cough, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, fever, headache, runny nose, sore throat & muscle aches. Hundreds of humans, mostly farmers, farm women and those working with poultry have fallen sick of Avian Influenza and statistics reveal that up to 60% of those who became ill have died. 'The Telegraph' reported that Indonesia has been the nation hardest-hit by bird flu, with 150 deaths reported between 2003 and 2011. However, solace is the fact that there are no deaths reported due to bird flu since beginning of this year in the Country.

Basically, Indian food habits are said to destroy most of the food-borne infections; following the thorough cooking at constantly higher temperatures. Said this, can we still continue eating poultry meat & eggs? Is it 'unsafe' to consume chicken & eggs from the commercial eateries? - Finding an answer to these questions for now is not all that easy. 'Once Saved Always Saved' concept might tend to keep us away; but the yummy McEgg Burger is definitely too much a temptation!!

Hesaraghatta in Bangalore has been known for its richest biodiversity across the Country; for it being the site of many significant and advanced animal husbandry activities from ages. It was a nice place of weekend hangouts with kids for Bangaloreans, where they could enjoy the beauty of nature to its fullest. But not for now; it would be better to keep away from places in and around Hesaraghatta - One, not to get ourselves infected and Two, not to facilitate the spread of infection beyond the nucleus of alert zone.

Those Three Days..

Those Three Days..

I had been to a nearby Medical Store couple of days ago, to buy few thermometers. Since I wanted minimum Ten of them, the shop-keeper kept me waiting for sometime while the owner arrived to explore thermometers in the midst of all the pharmaceuticals in store. A girl, looking to be in her early 20's came to the druggist asking for a pack of Whisper. I did realize later that it was an embarrassment for her to ask for what she wanted, since me, a guy was there around. She literally did 'whisper' while she asked for the 'Whisper'!

Up to the best of my remembrance, Whisper is the first product of its kind to gain popularity in the market. Manufacturer named it Whisper - the very trade name is indicative of it being something of high-class secrecy and shouldn't be spelled aloud. Being in the Medical Profession, I somehow am not convinced with it being named so; guess it isn't something to whisper about. I strongly suspect if it was the name 'Whisper', which made the product all that popular to begin with in the first place.

Giving the pads to girl, the Chemist at shop wrapped it inside old newspaper and packed in a black polythene cover. Still I wonder, why should a fresh pack of napkins be wrapped in a newspaper and given hidden inside a black polythene cover? Isn't it actually the way of disposing used pads off?! However, like many others, even that girl was so used to receive and carry such a packaged product, slipped herself off the place with it being placed in her handbag.

Menstruation, is as natural process as Salivation in physiological consideration, but definitely isn't an easy phase in life to get along with. I guess it wouldn't be easier for Men either to remain and claim physically stronger if made to bleed regularly at least for Three Days a month, continuously for thirty long years; losing up to 80 ml of fresh blood every time - it's seriously scary! Counting this on, am almost totally convinced that Women are the strongest creation of God on Planet Earth.

Symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome following physiologic hormonal changes are not the easier ones to have felt; predominantly being tension, irritability and unhappiness. It often is also commonly associated with non-specific symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, increased emotional sensitivity, stress, difficulty in falling asleep, painful cramping in abdomen, back & upper thighs, cyclic acne, joint pains etc. Going through all such things for almost more than half of their lives, it really is a challenge every Women has to face by chance; which they have been doing pretty well, in 'Silence'.

Modern Women in the Civilized World do enough to express their consideration of Menstruation as a Curse. This cannot be termed obstinate, but fact is that they see it as one of the major shortcomings for them to be equivalent to Men. It is a misconception in the minds of young Women that Modernization is all about enjoying equal status as Men do in the Society. Wise is to perceive Modernization as a drift in the Society wherein Women are not deprived of their basic necessities & rights, and are given enough opportunities all over.

I personally feel, Periods shouldn't just be deserving a Whisper ; instead, they truly should be obliged with a call aloud for Social Responsibility, initiated at the basic unit of Society - the Family. It should become an assumed obligation on every member of the family to help Women midst them to get over the physical, physiological and psychological challenges of Menstruation. Just a word of love and a hug of care would make a huge difference than those acts which make them feel a sort of untouchable and inauspicious. In this present Virtual World where we are making a successful living, it shouldn't be impossible for us finding various ways to virtually share this pain of Women, isn't it?? It's only then the campaign - have a happy period from Whisper would be a reality.

Calf Delivery

I actually had another post in draft to be published, but this writeup preceded.

Yesterday, we (me & my wife) visited our Farm Office and happened to witness the process of a cow giving birth to her calf. Thought of sharing the process of delivery here, with some selected pictures.

The cow was left in the calving area with some bedding material made available anticipating delivery. Since it was not her first delivery, much attention was not always necessary. The expected date of calving (calving is the act of cow giving birth to calf) was three days ahead, but she started showing all the signs of delivering. Since the delivery was happening well before the date of expected calving, we suspected the calf to be female.

Not too long we got to wait, the amniotic sac appeared and ruptured to make way out for the calf. Amniotic sac is the one that covers the fetus for protection in cows womb throughout pregnancy, within which the young one develops. However, couldn't take a picture at this stage.

In the above picture, we can see the amniotic sac ruptured and sagging out down with some amount of amniotic fluid in it. Also, we can observe the two front legs of the calf coming out. This is the normal posture in which a calf is born. So, everything seems to be set just right for a normal delivery.

This is the next important stage when the head of the calf comes out. Should there be problems in delivery leading to complications, usually we can expect those in this stage. Nothing seem to have gotten messed up, as we could see the mouth of the calf started coming out in the above picture (just above the two legs).

At this stage, the mother should lye down to facilitate safe delivery with ease. But, she was standing upright; may be we standing around might have caused discomfort to her. We moved a few yards away and back, she sat in no time and delivered the calf before we could take a picture.

Above picture shows the 'newly born' (literally new - a few seconds old) calf. As expected, it was she - a female calf. The calf was gasping to take her first breath. Mother was liking her all over, out of love, care and responsibility.

The calf took her first ever breath of life to successfully start an independent life away from mother's womb. Other cow which is also in the calving area approaching her date of delivery, comes in and shares the joy of the mother who just gave birth to her young one.

In the next 15 minutes, the calf was able to sit, looking very normal and healthy. By 30 minutes of delivery, the calf took her first step standing on her own legs, with the help of her mother.

During the course of calving, I was all worried and concentrating on the calf for its normal delivery. But, my wife standing beside me seemed almost exclaimed when she said 'how much the cow is struggling?!!'. Only women can feel the pain of delivery - isn't it?

Why Blame Women?

Have you ever heard of Men who marry another woman, for their 'wives being incapable' of giving birth to a 'Baby Boy'? If not, lucky you! I always wonder why on this Planet Earth, people crave so much for a 'Baby Boy'? May be they think their Gene is (in)valuable and only Mr. Boy can actually Drop it down the generation lane!!

Even in my family, I was born following two elder sisters and "If at all you were not born boy, I might have had a tough time with in-laws" said Mom once. Today, I still do not find any valid reasons, to substantiate the necessity of a baby being born boy than a girl. Both of them, either a boy or a girl, at the end of the day are Human Beings; also, they both have every equal right to be born and make a living.

According to Cytology, all (normal) human beings have 23 pairs of chromosomes (totally 46 chromosomes); out of which 22 pairs are autosomes and only 1 pair is sex chromosomes. These sex chromosomes are basically responsible in determining the Sex of an individual. A normal individual with 'XX' sex chromosomes is a Female and one with 'XY' sex chromosomes is a Male. During fertilization, a zygote (baby) is formed by one sex chromosome each from male (father) and female (mother). If both male and female contributes 'X', then the zygote is 'XX' (female); If male contributes 'Y' and female (can only) contribute 'X', the zygote is 'XY' (male). This is the 'XY Sex-Determination System' of human beings in a nutshell.

Biologically speaking, the crucial part of sex determination is played by the Y-Chromosome or in other words (normal) sex determination is solely dependent on male (father) alone. Although the process of sex determination is highly unpredictable and is a mere chance factor, it is crystal clear that female (mother) cease to share the responsibility in determining the sex of a normal zygote (baby).

For no reason and no fault of theirs, Women are being made responsible for the birth of a baby girl and are subjective victims of inhumane social torture from ages now. But, being truly responsible, Men have been safely enjoying a comfortable position in the family and society. It isn't forgotten that 'ours is a male-dominant society'; though male-dominance itself is a highly questionable debate, it definitely otherwise shouldn't authorize to 'torture women'.

With all the physiological pleasure and pressure of the 9-month long pregnancy, Women also are ably taking the curse and tolerating the social harassment in Silence. Isn't it now necessary to brand Men (with a red-hot iron) to be responsible for the sex of the baby born; and from the bottom of the heart say to Women 'Hats Off' & end her sufferings??

Madras Eye in Bengaluru

Conjunctivitis (Madras Eye)

If your eyes are itching a bit more than usual or if your eyes have turned a bit more red than usual or if there is more watery discharge from your eyes than usual or if your eyes look a little more swollen than usual - get alert; Madras Eye is now in Bengaluru!

Lately in the City, I have seen a few of them amongst the general public having typical signs of Madras Eye infection - redness, itchy & swollen eyes with quite a bit of discharge. A friend of mine has also managed to pick the infection from sources unknown and recovered.

Conjunctivitis, commonly called as 'Madras Eye' or 'Bangladesh Eye' or 'Pink Eye' or 'Red Eye' is actually an acute inflammatory condition of the thin outermost layer of the eye, involving the inner surface of the eyelids too. Causes being Viral, Bacterial and Allergic, Conjunctivitis is said to be milder with Bacterial origin - which seems to be prevalent in Bengaluru since the infection seems to be not so severe.

Infection spreads by air and by coming in direct contact with the discharge from an infected eye. If bound to travel in public transport vehicles, you never know in which corner the infection exists. Best way to avoid picking infection is to wash hands often and keep a fair distance away from an already infected eye. With symptoms of Conjunctivitis, do make some time to get an immediate appointment and visit your Family Physician without fail.

Belladonna, a Homeopathy Medicine, when taken 4 pills a day for 3 days is said to develop an immune response sufficient to protect us from getting infected. Belladonna (200 Potency, 30 size Globules) is available in HomeoWorld (Sampige Road, Malleshwaram, 100 meters ahead of Mantri Square towards your right) and 2 Drams pills would be sufficient for say a family of 5 members. Euphrasia (30 Potency, 30 size Globules) is said to be the treatment for Madras Eye in Homeopathy - consulting a Homeopath is, however, highly recommended.

Prevention is always better than Cure. Eyes are the most beautiful part of a Girl's face; Boys do need them to see the beauty! So, beware and protect your valuable Eyes; no matter you donate them or not, later.

HIV/AIDS [Vs] CONDOM

I was traveling via City Market and happen to see a sign board at Bust Stop in front of Vani Vilas Hospital, which read:

click to enlarge

KSAPS; Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (http://stg1.kar.nic.in/ksaps/Home.html) is a Special Cell constituted under the Directorate of Health & Family Welfare Services by Government of Karnataka in 1997. It mainly aims at HIV/AIDS Prevention along with extending Care & Support to the infected.

Lets read it all again - To prevent HIV/AIDS, we have to abstain from pre & extra marital sex, should be faithful to our partner & use condoms. Well, doesn't it sound to be revolving only around SEX? For me, it is! Rightly, it should be.. since, that indeed is the major cause.

Abstain from Pre & Extra Marital Sex
In somewhere around 2005, well-known actress Kushboo said in an interview given to a magazine "pre-marital sex was fine; provided safety measures are followed to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. No educated man would expect his wife to be a virgin". This resulted in filing of 22 (if am not wrong) cases against her, which the Supreme Court recently quashed. Ok, coming back, 'Abstain' seems to be the perfect word used; and yes, it should be ones own decision to keep away from Pre & Extra Marital Sex to prevent HIV/AIDS. No issues.

Be faithful to your Partner
Of course! We should be. It seems more like an emotional/sentimental way of tackling. When one cannot really 'abstain' h(im/er)self, at least this trick may work. No issues.

Use Condoms
*~@#&^$!! What does this mean? It sounds a bit of 'controversy' (at least to me). Does this mean to say if one cannot avoid pre & extra marital sex nor be faithful to partner, can safely use 'Condom' and 'Enjoy'? Earlier, it was told to avoid pre & extra marital sex; but now, by saying 'use condoms' do they want to mean the converse? Or, is it a 'clever' way of encouraging pre & extra marital sex (might not be)? Or, does it mean that pre & extra marital sex cannot be totally 'stopped' - so 'safely use condoms'?

Know AIDS - No AIDS
Does it mean to say that one should know Condoms help preventing from getting infected with HIV/AIDS and safely indulge in Sex by using them? If that is the case, what was the need to say 'A' and 'B' to begin with?

I personally have always been thinking that CONDOM shouldn't ever be a preventive measure to HIV/AIDS. Because, it indirectly may give the impression that - it is fine to have Sex with any number of (wo)men. When our lives are been built upon strong foundation of 'monogamy' preached in our great epic Ramayana (Mahabaharatha is a contrary, should seriously start finding substantiating evidences if HIV/AIDS did exist then), how would such concepts be promoted and popularized amongst us? I think KSAPS should be very cautious while releasing such advertisements in public; not just making some (ir)relevant statements. Being a Government of Karnataka undertaking, there should have been some 'real intellectuals' working behind such 'crucial' & 'responsible' propaganda.