Four ministries will propose to the Cabinet an urgent plan of action to prepare for a possible pandemic of the deadly bird flu H7N9, as well as other emerging diseases.
The four ministries - Public Health, Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Interior - are drafting an emergency-preparedness plan to combat a possible pandemic of the influenza virus H7N9, which has killed 22 people and infected 108 others in China.The plan will be submitted to Cabinet and a meeting of a national committee to prevent and handle the new emerging disease, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasob Suraswadi, according to Disease Control Department director-general Dr Pornthep Siriwanarangson.
The urgent action to prevent spread of the outbreak and compensation for poultry farmers will be included under this plan, as well as the establishment of a subcommittee to oversee measures to control any pandemic, he added.
The plan is based on a draft by the Livestock Development, Disease Control, National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation departments.
So far there has been no sign of a pandemic in Thailand, but Pornthep suggested the agencies should keep a close eye on birds along the coastal areas, such as seagulls. They also need to conduct a surveillance system for poultry farms located along the flight paths of migratory birds.
Information on the movement across boundaries of live poultry is also needed to monitor any threat of an H7N9 outbreak, he added.
"Personally I believe the outbreak of this avian flu virus will reach Thailand by October, because of the rainy season. It will also deal a psychological blow to the poultry industry, not only in frozen chickens but cooked chicken as well," he said.
Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Yukol Limlaemthong said he expected the meeting with Plodprasob to come up with a concrete and systematic plan to deal with any outbreak.
The plan would follow previous ones adopted with the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009.
He also ordered livestock officials to monitor the situation around the clock and, in the eventuality of an outbreak of H7N9 bird flu, instructed them to use disinfectant immediately to kill the virus and slaughter infected poultry as a main measure to control it.
"The H7N9 bird-flu virus is spreading in China. Currently, however, we have good luck, as the migratory birds are flying back to their homes in the northern part of the world.
"We can breathe now - but after the rainy season, if the virus still exists in China, the migratory birds might come back here again. This would be the worst time," he said.
Dr Anan Sirimongkolkasem, president of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association, said he was worried that the processed-chicken industry, worth about Bt70 billion a year, would be affected if a bird-flu pandemic took hold in Thailand.
"We are really worried about chickens that could be infected with the virus but do not display any symptoms," Anan said.
He added that the frozen-chicken industry would be more affected than the cooked-chicken sector.
"We are now monitoring the situation of the H7N9 bird flu pandemic" via the Internet, he said.
Associate Professor Dr Taweesak Songserm, an animal-health expert at Kasetsart University, suggested that relevant agencies set up a laboratory network to monitor the situation and exchange information about any outbreak of the bird fluin the Kingdom.
He added that this virus could be difficult to contain as it had mutated a lot. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Four-ministries-draft-emergency-plan-to-prepare-fo-30205212.html
