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KUALA LUMPUR: Three more people were admitted to hospital
yesterday with bird flu symptoms.
They were a 21-year-old man in Taiping, a three-year-old child
in Penang and a 23-year-old man in Batu Gajah.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said the three were
detected by health officials who were conducting door-to-door
checks within 300 metres of the bird flu outbreak areas on
Thursday.
However, there is no one currently afflicted by the
virus in the country.
Dr Chua said people with bird flu symptoms were admitted for
observation and isolation in case they were infected with the
virus.
The number of hospitals specializing in treating bird flu
patients will be increased from the present 21 if the situation
gets worse. |
The move is part of the national bird flu epidemic plan which is
being drafted by the ministry and agriculture authorities in the
event that the H5N1
virus becomes widespread.
Health Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon said
the implementation of the plan would depend on how widely the
virus spread across the country.
Meanwhile, in Ipoh, Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) director
Dr Sharifah Syed Hassan said genetic sequences extracted from
the H5N1
virus which affected livestock in Perak and Penang recently,
would be sent to the World Health Organization based in Geneva,
Switzerland.
The sequence will be entered into the world body’s genetic
database to enable scientists worldwide to study the evolving
characteristics of the
virus and the severity of its effects on the human and
poultry population. |
She said the VRI was still investigating the type of H5N1
variant which infected village livestock and an aviary this
month.
Dr Sharifah said H5N1 found in livestock culled in Tumpat,
Kelantan, almost two years ago was identified as the
Thailand/Vietnam variant.
In Gombak, Selangor, it was the China/Indonesia variant that had
infected livestock early this year. |
