CATBALOGAN, Samar – Though the country may not
remain bird flu-free, health authorities here claimed that the government,
particularly the Department of Health (DOH), is better prepared this time to
take preventive measures against the much-dreaded avian influenza.
Provincial Health Officer (PHO)
Dulce Cernal said that if the health department was able to properly handle
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak a few years back, much
more so now when it has in place well-organized plans and strategies to
prevent or contain the bird flu pandemic which hit neighboring countries in
Asia and is expected to enter Philippine territory.
Dr. Cernal said the
provincial health office has already organized the Provincial Epidemiology
and Surveillance Unit (PESU) to monitor reported cases of bird flu infection
and to provide immediate response in case of an outbreak.
Among the preventive
measures the PHO will undertake, Cernal informed, is the conduct of
information campaigns to educate people how to detect birds infected with
avian influenza and to avoid contamination with the virus.
The provincial health chief
said she would be calling the agencies that will compose the Provincial
Avian Influenza Task Force (PAITF) so that plans will be laid out in the
conduct of the information campaign.
Executive Order No. 280
signed in February of last year, which was passed to provide response to the
raging bird flu pandemic that threatened Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand,
designated the health secretary as the over-all crisis manager. At the
provincial level, the provincial health officers are expected to take the
lead.
Meanwhile, epidemiologist
Dr. Sheila Tante underscored the importance of media in informing the public
about bird flu. She said since the mortality rate of those infected with the
AI virus is relatively high (mortality rate is as high as 58%), what media can
do is to promote public awareness so that contamination with AI virus could
be avoided.
Dr. Tante raised
apprehensions that the virus may have already entered the country through
migratory birds that pass through the archipelago from the Northern
Hemisphere at the onset of winter, although no cases have been detected yet.
In line with this, Dr. Tante
warned the public to be vigilant and report immediately to health
authorities cases of deaths of poultry fowls and not to touch their carcasses
to avoid contamination.
Reported death due to bird
flu since January of last year have already reached 62. The greatest number
of bird flu cases have been detected in Vietnam although there are also
cases of infection in
Thailand,
Cambodia and Indonesia.
