Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Airport thermal scanners to protect against pandemics
The federal Health Department says special scanners used to detect fevers will be sent to all Australian international airports if a pandemic threat arises.
The decision follows a successful trial program in far north Queensland.
The thermal scanning project at the Cairns International Airport ran for six months in 2006 and was used to screen international passengers for diseases like malaria, influenza and dengue fever.
The federal Health Department says since the trial, it has bought 25 scanners to send to eight international airports across the country if a pandemic happens.
But the head of the study, infectious disease expert Professor John McBride from James Cook University, says the scanners should be permanently installed, rather than being used as a reactionary measure.
"Fever screening may have an additional benefit apart from picking up dengue cases and picking up new diseases like chikungunya.
"In Taiwan, where they are doing it all the time, they managed to detect some cases of chikungunya coming into the country there."
Professor McBride says the department's decision is probably due to the high costs of implementing the system permanently due to staffing requirements.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/18/2141277.htm
The federal Health Department says special scanners used to detect fevers will be sent to all Australian international airports if a pandemic threat arises.
The decision follows a successful trial program in far north Queensland.
The thermal scanning project at the Cairns International Airport ran for six months in 2006 and was used to screen international passengers for diseases like malaria, influenza and dengue fever.
The federal Health Department says since the trial, it has bought 25 scanners to send to eight international airports across the country if a pandemic happens.
But the head of the study, infectious disease expert Professor John McBride from James Cook University, says the scanners should be permanently installed, rather than being used as a reactionary measure.
"Fever screening may have an additional benefit apart from picking up dengue cases and picking up new diseases like chikungunya.
"In Taiwan, where they are doing it all the time, they managed to detect some cases of chikungunya coming into the country there."
Professor McBride says the department's decision is probably due to the high costs of implementing the system permanently due to staffing requirements.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/18/2141277.htm