Health ministry sets out four scenarios to prevent A/H7N9

The Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health has promulgated an action plan to prevent A/H7N9 avian flu outbreaks in Vietnam.

The action plan is focused on early detection, timely treatment and limiting death toll.

The plan sets out four scenarios as well as suitable actions for relevant agencies to promptly deploy.

The ministry also publicised a list of measures to tackle the disease, including improving diagnosis capacity and food safety, organising drills for health staff, and raising public awareness through communications campaigns.  

Vietnam has yet to detect any A/H7N9 patient, however, the long borderline shared with China and busy cross-border trade activities between the two countries are posing a high risk of virus transmissions into Vietnam.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that China has reported 340 human A/H7N9 avian flu cases in 13 provinces and cities nationwide so far this year. Almost the infected cases had a history of exposure to live poultry in markets or areas polluted by infected poultry. 

The number of human A/H7N9 cases have continually increased in China since October last year, causing the fifth outbreak in the country since 2013, the WHO reported. 

To proactively prevent the disease, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health recommended people to not use poultry or poultry products with unknown origins, and ensure food hygiene. 

People should come to healthcare establishments for check-up and treatment if they have flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, chest pain or breathing difficulty, the ministry said.

They were told to immediately notify local authorities and veterinary units if they detected any sick or dead poultry. 

Translated by Thu Minh

Source: Linh Dan-Kinhtedothi