Sauna - keeping bird flu at bay

Saunas are a favorite haunt of athletes seeking out a good sweat, but officials in Finland are now recommending the steam room as a way of keeping the deadly bird flu out of the Nordic country.

The agriculture ministry has advised travelers to areas hard-hit by the disease to disinfect themselves in the high temperatures of the sauna.

"We issued a general recommendation for poultry producers to prevent the spread of the virus with the sauna," said ministry expert Sirpa Kiviruusu.

The government urged travelers returning from places in southeastern Asia, where the virus has claimed 61 lives, and Russia, where numerous poultry farms have been infected, to disinfect their clothing, shoes and luggage in a sauna.

Total immunity not guaranteed

"This is very efficient way of destroying the virus, which cannot survive high temperatures. For clothes, you need 70 degrees Celsius for three hours," Kiviruusu said.

"You don't necessarily want to burn your clothes and therefore the sauna is a good way of killing the virus,? she added.

While the recommendation would be difficult to follow in many countries, in Finland, which boasts two million saunas for just over five million inhabitants, it's a piece of cake.

The agriculture ministry emphasized however that sauna disinfection does not guarantee total immunity from the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus that began spreading to humans in 2003.

Finland recently experienced its first bird flu scare when gulls in the northwest showed signs of the virus. On closer study however, it turned out that the birds were suffering from a strain of the virus harmless to humans.

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