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The reports that the Bird Flu has marched into, or rather flown into Eastern Europe inevitably causes concern to the EU but does not necessary cause undue despondency and aimless alarm.
However it is time for the Eastern countries bordering on Asia, and others afar from the European-Asian frontiers, to rehearse and fine-tune their already prepared defensive programmes to protect their people from this new fowl plague.
The strategy for the coming onslaught, if and when it comes, may be considered on three defensive plans.
One. Surveillance. An enthusiastic dedicated surveillance, not only by field veterinary officers and primary care medical officers but also by enlisting the help of personnel trained specifically ad hoc for this emergency so that every square metre of the region is under observation at all times, every remote hamlet and individual household off the beaten track are placed under observation; as are also collections of pools, streams, parks, river deltas and so on which are so inviting to migratory birds. This group includes teachers, clerics, army and police patrols, and so on.
Two.Reporting. An honest and correct reporting will give an early warning signal to the District and Regional. Departments, to the Central Government, and to the International Authorities. It will trigger an immediate appropriate response. The outbreak will be localised and isolated and prevented from spreading; the birds will be destroyed, a measure which has been tried and found successful in the South and Far East countries.
Three Diagnosis. An efficient, expert, laboratory facility is indispensable to make the vital differential diagnosis between the highly pathogenic virus HP-H5N1 and the scores of other microrganisms, which can infect our respiratory system. On this depends the correct life-saving prophylactic and therapeutic management of patients.
The above reads like a veritable Hitchcock’s scenario, doesn’t it?
Col. (Retd.) Dr Ethelwald Emilius Vella
Manikata
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