Sally Furniss
Well-known member
hey 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 specialising 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 Organisation 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.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20060325075411/Article/index_html
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 specialising 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 Organisation 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.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20060325075411/Article/index_html