Amid the ongoing Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) outbreak in Pune, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar recently urged people to avoid consuming undercooked chicken as a precautionary measure. However, following Pawar's statement, chicken shop and restaurant owners claim that their business has plummeted as it has created a sense of fear in the minds of the customers.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Mohamad Faizal, a chicken shop owner in Uttam Nagar, said, "The sale of chicken has declined since the outbreak of GBS. The sales has gone down even further in the past few days after Ajit dada made the statement regarding consumption of chicken. This is affecting us financially badly."
Akshay Dedge, a restaurant owner at Nanded, added, "Our non-veg food is getting wasted daily. Earlier, our daily consumption of chicken was around 10 kg. Now, we cook only 4 kg."
Siddhi Divre, a resident of Chikhali in Pimpri-Chinchwad, stated that her family is avoiding non-veg food till the GBS outbreak is over. "We are avoiding any non-veg food because we don't know what bacteria they might be carrying. As a homemaker, I'm worried all the time about what I'm feeding to my family; therefore, I'm avoiding every possible thing that can have any contamination or any bacteria growth."
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared that no bacterial contamination was found in the raw chicken samples collected from areas affected by GBS in Pune.
Dr Suresh Annapure, Joint Commissioner, FDA (Food), Pune Region, said, "60 samples tested negative for Campylobacter jejuni, the bacteria linked to GBS. However, the state animal husbandry department collected samples from poultry farms situated in affected areas and reports came positive for the bacteria."
According to a National Institute of Virology (NIV) report, 106 samples of poultry faeces and cloacal swabs were received. Out of these, 66 were tested for C. jejuni, of which 23 were positive and 60 were tested for norovirus of which five were positive.
The animal husbandry department officials said C. jejuni was commonly present in poultry worldwide. "It is a ubiquitous bacterium in poultry, colonising intestines of healthy birds without illness. Poultry birds, including chickens and hens, often carry the bacteria asymptomatically," an official said.
The animal husbandry department's investigation also found no evidence of poultry farm drainage contaminating nearby water sources, including the Khadakwasla dam, leaving the source of contamination — and its link to the GBS outbreak — still unclear.
