Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/jan/25/yehey/top_stories/20090125top2.html
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Heightened DOH alert up;
our ?lucky streak? can?t be forever
By Paul M. Icamina, Special Reports Editor
DEFYING all odds, the Philippines remains free of bird flu but health authorities are aware it is a lucky streak that is too good to last forever.
While properly cooked fowl poses no threat, no chances are being taken to deal with the potentially very deadly infection.
?We are not letting our guards down,? warned Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd as the government renewed ?heightened alert? this month even as it eyes migratory birds flying south on the wings of the Siberian cold spell.
?The pandemic clock is ticking. It cannot be predicted when the pandemic will occur but it is always best to be prepared all the time,? he pointed out. ?After all, it wasn?t raining when Noah built the ark.?
The country, according to the Department of Health (DOH), is ready for the ?very near? eventuality that bird flu hits the country.
The reason for the high alert and preparedness is simple geography: proximity to affected countries. In fact, according to Duque, ?it?s just a matter of time.?
Many potentially infected birds may come from China where it was reported yesterday that a 31-year-old Chinese woman died of bird flu, the country?s fourth victim this year, bringing to 24 the number of bird flu-related deaths there since 2003.
For a year before that, no fatalities were reported in China. There were no outbreaks detected among poultry, indicating the silent killer was there all along waiting to infect humans.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 250 people have died from bird flu worldwide since 2003 when it was first detected among humans.
Since then, more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East have reported outbreaks of bird flu in poultry and wild birds.
As of January 22, bird flu cases among humans have been confirmed in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
Since 2003, 399 cases were reported, including 251 deaths.
High anxiety
The high anxiety is caused by fears that the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu may mutate, making it harder to detect and treat and causing as much as 150 million deaths if it jumps easily from human to human, potentially sparking a global pandemic.
It may, for example, acquire genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious as well as lethal. Because it would be a radically new virus, no one would be immune.
To date, there has been no reported human-to-human transmission.
But, as Duque points out, ?it is not a question of if but when because of our geographic location, our closeness to countries with identified bird flu, and the threat from migratory birds.?
The Philippines had so far been spared partly because it is an archipelago with no land borders with neighboring countries, according to DOH experts on infectious diseases.
Late last year, at a time when migratory birds passed the country in their yearly trip to warmer climates, authorities monitored about 20 bird sanctuaries, including those in Pagudpud, Candaba swamp, Naujan, Capiz, Panay, Palawan, Olango, Lake Najuan and the Liguasan marsh.
About 20 areas are high risk because of swamplands where migratory birds stop over and where there is, as in southern Mindanao, potential back-door smuggling of wild birds.
A surveillance system for human cases is being pilot tested in Pampanga while another for influenza-like illnesses is being put in place in 17 locations, says Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, head of the DOH Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Program.
Through text messages, private physicians will directly report influenza-like illnesses to the DOH.
Hospitals are required to review unusually high cases of influenza on the assumption that hidden bird flu infections will be reflected by pneumonia fatalities.
Community surveillance is underway. ?It is very important that every resident in the community is aware of the signs of bird flu in poultry to ensure early recognition, immediate reporting and appropriate control measures,? says Lee Suy.
If bird flu does appear, cases will be referred to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang as well as to 16 regional centers, including the San Lazaro Hospital and the Lung Center of the Philippines in Metro Manila; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu; and the Davao Medical Center.
The DOH is buying 100,000 sets of Personal Protective Equipment for health workers on the frontline. ?This unfortunately will not be adequate should a pandemic of influenza occur,? Lee Suy says.
The Philippines has a specific allocation of the Tamiflu antiviral drug, part of a stockpile that is equally distributed among members of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Its share covers treatment for over 75,000 persons at a course of one capsule twice a day for five days.
The DOH has a stockpile of 610,000 Tamiflu capsules, including 500,000 donated by Unilab. The WHO has committed 10,000 more capsules.
The drug is presently available from only one producer, Roche which has permitted Unilab to manufacture it with raw materials donated by India.
Tamiflu is a common anti-flu drug that is the only antiviral so far that responds to bird flu. But it is not a wonder drug?six out of 10 cases may still die from infection.
It will be in short supply worldwide if a pandemic does occur, by which time, the DOH admits, its stockpile ?will not be enough.?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Heightened DOH alert up;
our ?lucky streak? can?t be forever
By Paul M. Icamina, Special Reports Editor
DEFYING all odds, the Philippines remains free of bird flu but health authorities are aware it is a lucky streak that is too good to last forever.
While properly cooked fowl poses no threat, no chances are being taken to deal with the potentially very deadly infection.
?We are not letting our guards down,? warned Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd as the government renewed ?heightened alert? this month even as it eyes migratory birds flying south on the wings of the Siberian cold spell.
?The pandemic clock is ticking. It cannot be predicted when the pandemic will occur but it is always best to be prepared all the time,? he pointed out. ?After all, it wasn?t raining when Noah built the ark.?
The country, according to the Department of Health (DOH), is ready for the ?very near? eventuality that bird flu hits the country.
The reason for the high alert and preparedness is simple geography: proximity to affected countries. In fact, according to Duque, ?it?s just a matter of time.?
Many potentially infected birds may come from China where it was reported yesterday that a 31-year-old Chinese woman died of bird flu, the country?s fourth victim this year, bringing to 24 the number of bird flu-related deaths there since 2003.
For a year before that, no fatalities were reported in China. There were no outbreaks detected among poultry, indicating the silent killer was there all along waiting to infect humans.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 250 people have died from bird flu worldwide since 2003 when it was first detected among humans.
Since then, more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East have reported outbreaks of bird flu in poultry and wild birds.
As of January 22, bird flu cases among humans have been confirmed in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
Since 2003, 399 cases were reported, including 251 deaths.
High anxiety
The high anxiety is caused by fears that the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu may mutate, making it harder to detect and treat and causing as much as 150 million deaths if it jumps easily from human to human, potentially sparking a global pandemic.
It may, for example, acquire genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious as well as lethal. Because it would be a radically new virus, no one would be immune.
To date, there has been no reported human-to-human transmission.
But, as Duque points out, ?it is not a question of if but when because of our geographic location, our closeness to countries with identified bird flu, and the threat from migratory birds.?
The Philippines had so far been spared partly because it is an archipelago with no land borders with neighboring countries, according to DOH experts on infectious diseases.
Late last year, at a time when migratory birds passed the country in their yearly trip to warmer climates, authorities monitored about 20 bird sanctuaries, including those in Pagudpud, Candaba swamp, Naujan, Capiz, Panay, Palawan, Olango, Lake Najuan and the Liguasan marsh.
About 20 areas are high risk because of swamplands where migratory birds stop over and where there is, as in southern Mindanao, potential back-door smuggling of wild birds.
A surveillance system for human cases is being pilot tested in Pampanga while another for influenza-like illnesses is being put in place in 17 locations, says Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, head of the DOH Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Program.
Through text messages, private physicians will directly report influenza-like illnesses to the DOH.
Hospitals are required to review unusually high cases of influenza on the assumption that hidden bird flu infections will be reflected by pneumonia fatalities.
Community surveillance is underway. ?It is very important that every resident in the community is aware of the signs of bird flu in poultry to ensure early recognition, immediate reporting and appropriate control measures,? says Lee Suy.
If bird flu does appear, cases will be referred to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang as well as to 16 regional centers, including the San Lazaro Hospital and the Lung Center of the Philippines in Metro Manila; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu; and the Davao Medical Center.
The DOH is buying 100,000 sets of Personal Protective Equipment for health workers on the frontline. ?This unfortunately will not be adequate should a pandemic of influenza occur,? Lee Suy says.
The Philippines has a specific allocation of the Tamiflu antiviral drug, part of a stockpile that is equally distributed among members of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Its share covers treatment for over 75,000 persons at a course of one capsule twice a day for five days.
The DOH has a stockpile of 610,000 Tamiflu capsules, including 500,000 donated by Unilab. The WHO has committed 10,000 more capsules.
The drug is presently available from only one producer, Roche which has permitted Unilab to manufacture it with raw materials donated by India.
Tamiflu is a common anti-flu drug that is the only antiviral so far that responds to bird flu. But it is not a wonder drug?six out of 10 cases may still die from infection.
It will be in short supply worldwide if a pandemic does occur, by which time, the DOH admits, its stockpile ?will not be enough.?