Eggs should not be stored in refrigerators!!!

Eggs should not be stored in refrigerators because the cooler conditions might allow the bird-flu virus to live longer, increasing the chance of exposure to humans, a senior Chulalongkorn University researcher said Thursday.

Professor Yong Phuvoravan, who is part of a team examining patterns of genes in bird flu, said that while the virus can be caught only through direct contact with chickens, refrigerated conditions could allow the virus to live longer on the outside of eggshells.

Speaking at a bird-flu seminar at the Chula Academy Exhibition Thursday, he urged people to wash their eggs carefully, especially those smattered with chicken droppings, and not to store them in their fridges. He added that people should wash their hands well after touching the eggs and cook the eggs in 70-degree Celsius heat. The virus has mutated by about 3 per cent from the first batch found in 2003, which was a natural process, he said. However, as yet there has been no evidence of a mutation to make the virus transmittable from human to human.

Yong did say, however, that over consumption of the Tamiflu vaccine could lead to the virus building up a resistance.