Welcome home, Kelly and Soyfan!

[~Jackie~ 30]

Hi Kelly! I just returned from a cruise last night (never doing that again!). Welcome back to America. It was great your time with immigration was only 45 minutes at Ohare, it took Mohammed 3 hours to get thru.

I work on Tuesday from 10-3. If you can, come see me or call.

Jackie

[MaryandMian 1]

Hello Kelly,

Glad to hear that your getting settled in now but sorry your sickly again. I can vouche for the gallbladder too. If that is the problem and they remove it you will be a new person again. Hope you get to feeling better and keep us posted.

Mary

[LRA 0]

Kelly, I don't know much about the bird flu, but seeing you were in the area recently (I know you said you visited Kufranjeh alot), you may want to tell the doctors stateside. I do hope you feel much better soon.

More than 20,000 chickens in Kufranjeh to be culled today

By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN — No new cases of the avian flu were reported in the Kingdom until late Saturday, after the deadly virus was detected in four turkeys in Ajloun Governorate on Friday, a senior Health Ministry official said.

The government decided yesterday to include the entire Kingdom in the deadline issued to Jordan Valley residents.

Last Thursday, the government gave families in the Jordan Valley, who raise poultry in their backyards, one week to get rid of them, after which the authorities will start collecting these birds and culling them, Khalid Abu Rumman, head of the technical committee told The Jordan Times.

The infected turkeys were found in a house in the Kufranjeh area of Ajloun.

Teams from the ministries of health and agriculture and municipalities are destroying birds within a six-kilometre radius of Kufranjeh. In addition, they are vaccinating birds within a 10-kilometre radius of the village.

So far, more than 2,500 birds in the area have been culled.

Stressing, that there were no cases of human infection, Abu Rumman said 22 people who lived in the farm and had direct contact with the birds tested negatively for the H5N1 virus.

At a press conference on Saturday, Minister of Agriculture Akef Zu'bi said the possibility of discovering more cases of the virus in Ajloun Governorate will decline by Monday morning, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

"The incubation period of the virus is 72 hours. Therefore, if no new cases are reported in the governorate by Monday, it means there is no spread of the virus in the area,” Abu Rumman explained.

Referring to the collection and culling of birds, Zu'bi said pet birds kept indoors would not be included. Only chickens, doves and turkeys will be affected because they live in open places and are not well-protected; therefore they are the most likely to come into direct contact with migratory birds and contract the virus, Zu'bi said.

For his part, Minister of Health Saeed Darwazeh said the situation in Ajloun Governorate was under control.

However, he said there was a possibility that the virus would be discovered in other areas in the Kingdom. But if the situation is brought under control within 48 hours there will be no risk of human beings contracting the disease.

Compensation

The agriculture minister, who met with owners of poultry farms on Friday, said the government was seriously considering compensating farmers whose birds are destroyed.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, the poultry sector creates 50,000 job opportunities and provides JD600 million in revenues annually.

A Health Ministry official, who preferred anonymity, said the technical committee was collecting the names of families whose birds were culled and the number of birds.

The official said the information would be compiled in a database in case the government decides to compensate these farmers.

"The government will contact donor countries via the World Health Organisation for financial assistance. The donors created a fund to support measures taken by countries where bird flu is detected," the official told The Jordan Times.

Nationwide efforts

Efforts were intensified in various parts in the Kingdom as inspection campaigns of poultry farms were increased.

Ajloun Governor Ahmad Shayyab said that more than 20,000 chickens in four poultry farms in Kufranjeh, would be culled today, Petra reported.

In central Jordan Valley, the Public Works and Housing Department, in cooperation with local municipalities in the area, have started digging three-metre deep, 15-metre long and 10-metre-wide trenches close to poultry farms in the area, which contain more than 100,000 chickens, officials said.

"We are making advance preparations so if the deadly virus is detected in the area we will cull the poultry and bury them in these trenches," Petra cited Central Jordan Valley District Governor Hakam Faouri as saying.

In the capital, the Greater Amman Municipality decided to close its three bird gardens in Amman: Prince Hashem Bird Garden in Shmeisani, Prince Hamzah Bird Garden in Marka and the Hitteen Bird Garden in Ras Al Ain.

Meanwhile, Amman Governor Saed Wadi Manasir took a decision on Saturday prohibiting the breeding of poultry and doves in houses and rooftops, Petra reported.

Good hygienic practices to reduce exposure to the virus

• No birds from flocks with disease should enter the food chain.

• Do not eat raw poultry parts, including raw blood, or raw eggs in or from areas with outbreaks in poultry.

• Separate raw meat from cooked or ready-to-eat foods to avoid contamination. Do not use the same chopping board or the same knife. Do not handle both raw and cooked foods without washing your hands in between and do not place cooked meat back on the same plate or surface it was on prior to cooking. Do not use raw or soft-boiled eggs in food preparations that will not be heat-treated or cooked.

• Keep clean and wash your hands. After handling frozen or thawed raw poultry or eggs, wash your hands thoroughly with soap. Wash and disinfect all surfaces and utensils that have been in contact with the raw meat.

• Cook thoroughly: Thorough cooking of poultry meat (e.g. chicken, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea fowl) will inactivate the virus. Either ensure that the poultry meat reaches 70؛C at the centre of the product ("piping" hot) or that the meat is not pink in any part.

• Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus can be found inside and on the surface of eggs laid by infected birds. Although sick birds will normally stop producing eggs, eggs laid in the early phase of the disease could contain viruses in the egg white and yolk as well as on the surface of the shell. Proper cooking inactivates the virus present inside the eggs, so they should not be consumed raw or partially cooked and egg yolks should not be runny or liquid. To date, there is no epidemiological evidence to suggest that people have been infected with avian influenza by consumption of eggs or egg products.

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO)

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Oooh Kelly hope you're feeling better very soon. Long travel can be hard on the body, especially if you're already feeling a bit under the weather.

But glad to hear that Sofyan is doing fine.

Thoughts and prayers with you both.

-MK

[frndly1 1]

Welcome home

[dollface41601 0]

thanks all!

[honeyblonde 0]

Kelly, good you're getting the gall bladder checked out. I had those pains for 15 years and was told everything from just gas pains to gastritis. Finally I had so much pain I couldn't walk ( I think it was actually from an ovarian cyst) but they did a CT scan and took out my gall bladder a week later. It was completely full of stones. It took them 15 years to figure out I had them, glad you don't have to go through 15 years of pain to figure it out. Amy is right, once it's out the pains (at least those pains) are gone.

[kerewin21 2]

im on it im on it...ill get some pics up later on tonight.

Ive missed visa journey...i feel like ive been absent forever, so much has happened.

ooh. gotta get back to work.

hope all is well with all.

-sarah

AHEM. I'm not seeing any pics yet.... {hint, hint}

[amal 4]

Glad you're keeping busy, sorry you're feeling ill. Take a day and just relax if you can... I hope they get you figured out soon girl... We are planning to come to Chicago this summer for a couple days.. JACQUE, YOU HEAR THAT! I am hoping to meet up with both of you and have some girl talk.

amal

[ya falaha! 0]

Wow! Mabrook! Wonderful story! So how does Sofyan like the US so far?

the flight was great, sofyan was a great first time flyer....immigration took about 45 mins at ohare...but we made it out OK.....had a nice dinner with the family at Chili's.....sofyans first taste of real american food...he loved it...were both sooo tired....siting around and have a long day with the family tomorrow.....thanks everyone for your wishes....

Kelly and Sofyan

[dollface41601 0]

hey everyone!

Just a little update....had the ultrasound today....IM CLEAR...i gotta get some stool sample...lol.....to check for h-pylori.....which would be a peptic ulcer and i can keep under control with some meds!!! weve been home for 5 days and things are so perfect....sofyan has tried so many different foods.....he loves chinese....!!!!!!!!! weve been driving around alot..seeing all the family.....im going back to work...basically on an open schedule....i need a few extra $$ ya know......the prices here are killing me and are not anything like jordan...lol...ive become soooo frugal....i havent had anytime to check on peoples cases....i hope everyone is doing great......jac........soon i promise ok? thanks everyone for your support....

Kelly and Sofyan

[~Jackie~ 30]

Good to read you are feeling better Kelly. I know one of these days, when I least expect it, you will come see me at work. (weekend scedule Friday 3-9pm, Saturday 10-5pm and Sunday 11-5pm) Mohammed starts a new job on Friday, I hope soon we can all get together for dinner.

Jackie

[Donna A 4]

welcome home. glad to hear things are going so well except for ur mystry illness.

take him out for mexican...i bet he will love it too. i took hassan when he came for steak fajatas and he just loved them. of course he will not make a fajata out of it...he still breaks the bread (tortilla) into a piece and scoops the meat and vegetables up like a true arab!!!

hope u feel better.

donna

[meauxna 15]

Welcome home, Kelly! It's so great to read your news.. I look forward to more!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Hope you're feeling much better, Kelly ! Mexican food gets the big from my husband (except the Spanish rice which for some reason he thinks tastes "funny.") He also loves Chinese and Italian.

welcome home. glad to hear things are going so well except for ur mystry illness.

take him out for mexican...i bet he will love it too. i took hassan when he came for steak fajatas and he just loved them. of course he will not make a fajata out of it...he still breaks the bread (tortilla) into a piece and scoops the meat and vegetables up like a true arab!!!

hope u feel better.

donna

Hahahaaaa my husband does the same thing !!! And he thinks I'M the weird one for making "sandwich." But he sure loves the flavor of Mexican food... last week I made a huge pan of chicken enchiladas with green sauce, and he stayed up late and ate it ALL. I was stunned to find the empty casserole dish on the counter in the morning.... jeez I made like 25 enchiladas

-MK