CKS airport beefs up rules in avian flu prevention
2006-02-03 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Jenny W. Hsu
Due to the recent avian-flu cases in Hong Kong, Chiang Kai-shek International Airport has tightened safety regulations to ensure the deadly virus has no chance of making its way to the island during the Lunar New Year holidays. In addition to increasing the number of health workers at the airport, CKS' Center for Disease Control Division is strictly monitoring the body temperature of every inbound passenger.
The CDCD is also making stringent efforts to remind all passengers that enter Taiwan to adhere to the "Ten Day Self-Monitor Health System," which requires people to take their temperatures twice a day.
The Department of Health stressed it was particularly important for travelers going to China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia to avoid all contact with birds, and, upon returning to Taiwan, if symptoms arise people should immediately seek medical attention.
On Wednesday night, the Hong Kong government confirmed that the dead chickens and birds found in two separate public areas had indeed been affected with the lethal H5N1 virus. The chickens had apparently been smuggled into Hong Kong from China's Guangdong province.
Three people who had direct contact with the sick birds were immediately quarantined after the discovery of the birds until tests discovered they had not contracted the virus, said health authorities.
However, according to infectious disease experts in Hong Kong, the next seven days are extremely crucial, as this is the incubation period of the virus.
Ho-liang, the deputy director of the Center of Epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong said he believes the deadly viral strain has already began its contagious spree among Hong Kong's birds.
He went on to estimate the transmission of the virus is likely to become more pronounced as more birds start to die or display symptoms of the disease in the next two to three weeks.
To date, Taiwan remains one of the few bird-flu free countries in Asia, but to be extra sure Taiwan has purchased large amounts of Relenza and Tamiflu, the two anti-viral medicines determined to be effective against the virus.
Since 2003, over 80 people have died from the disease. The latest victim being a 15 year-old Iraqi girl who died on Tuesday, reportedly after touching a sick bird prior to becoming ill.
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