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Qatar: Planning on to deal with any bird flu emergency

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  • Qatar: Planning on to deal with any bird flu emergency

    Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topic...6&parent_id=16
    Planning on to deal with any bird flu emergency
    Published: Tuesday, 8 April, 2008, 01:19 AM Doha Time

    Staff Reporter
    IT WILL take 10 years to provide enough vaccines to treat 20% of the world?s population if bird flu becomes seriously endemic, an expert told an awareness session for healthcare workers organised by the National Health Authority (NHA) yesterday.
    Ravinder Mamtani , Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar professor of clinical public health and director of clerkship in public health, explained bird flu is already endemic in many parts of the world.
    The session on ?Assessing the Influenza Pandemic Threat? was held as part of NHA?s preparations against bird flu.
    ?The timing and severity of the bird flu virus, also known as H5N1, is unpredictable and the early warning surveillance on its possible mutations is very weak in many countries,? Mamtani said.
    He said though there are anti-viral medications they are only pre-pandemic, adding that for the production of new pandemic vaccines to start, a new virus must emerge.
    ?The symptoms of bird flu in humans have ranged from typical human influenza-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, to eye infections, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases (acute respiratory distress syndrome) and other severe and life-threatening complications,? he explained.
    He recalled that the first poultry-to-human transmission of bird flu occurred in 1997 with between six and 18 fatal cases reported.
    ?According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), up to March this year there have been 235 deaths due to the virus, accounting for about 62% of 376 known cases, and the risk of direct transmission of the virus from poultry to humans has persisted and is still increasing,? he said.
    Mamtani also recalled that the first human-to-human infection was in 2004, adding that further transmission has been limited.
    NHA?s Public Health Department director Dr Gail Chanpong said steps are being taken to ensure that the nation is prepared for any public health emergency.
    She explained that joint national emergency and disaster preparedness planning is under way in partnership with stakeholders including the municipality?s Animal Health Department, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Ministry of Interior, traffic police, the army and Qatar Petroleum.
    ?Some of the short-term targets by NHA are to finalise preparations for scaling up regionalised public health and vaccination services and continue to guard the ports, borders, and the airport through sustained surveillance for disease prevention and outbreak control,? she said.
    Chanpong said part of the future plans is to build partnerships to improve health outcomes, to provide linkages to families and community networks, as well as increase access to public health service delivery.
    She added that field team response drills, being conducted for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture?s Animal Health officials, NHA Communicable Diseases Committee team and HMC?s Ambulance and Personal Protective Equipment team members, will be completed in April. The second and third drills will be conducted in May and October.
    The NHA?s Emergency Preparedness section head Shazia Nadeem urged healthcare workers to always protect themselves when caring for any suspected bird flu patient.
    Public health specialist at the Emergency Preparedness section Wigdan Ismaiel also made a presentation on ?Infection control guidelines for healthcare workers?.
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