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PUTRAJAYA: Health and agriculture authorities are drafting a
national bird flu epidemic plan in the event the H5N1 virus
becomes widespread.
The virus, which has so far emerged in isolated areas of Perak,
Gombak and Penang, will pose a different scenario if it spreads
and affects places close to each other.
Such an epidemic would strain manpower and equipment resources
to cull birds, monitor public health and test virus samples over
a wider area, warned Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry
Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said the draft plan to address the deployment of resources in
an epidemic would be ready in a week.
The previous plan released by the two ministries was on handling
an outbreak in an isolated area. It involved culling birds in
the index area and active health surveillance of people living
within a 300m radius of the index area.
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"At the moment, there is no epidemic as the virus is only in a
few places, but we have to plan early for the worst-case
scenario," Muhyiddin said yesterday at a joint Press conference
with Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek.
The ministers said the current situation was manageable for
their officials to conduct health surveillance and to cull
birds.
"But if every State has three or four affected areas, it will be
a different scenario," Dr Chua said. "How would we cope with
culling and surveillance in so many areas at once?"
The Veterinary Research Institute laboratory, where samples are
tested for the virus, is at the moment able to produce results
within three or four days. Muhyiddin said a plan was necessary
to ensure the laboratory performed speedily with an even higher
number of samples in an epidemic.
The bird flu virus appeared earlier this week in three new
places in Perak. Dr Chua said there had been no human infections
so far. |
