Australia Prepared To
Close Its Borders If
H5N1 Goes Global
The Mercury - Australia
10-29-5
Health Minister Tony Abbott said Australia would be prepared to close its borders if bird flu caused a global pandemic.
It was one of the measures being considered for the Federal Government's draft plan, Mr Abbott said on arrival home after attending an international avian flu conference in Canada.
The possibility of countries closing borders during an outbreak was discussed at the meeting, he said.
"The best way of ensuring that you don't get infected with something like this, in the absence of an effective vaccine, would be isolation," Mr Abbott told ABC radio.
"Obviously there would be a place in any isolation strategy for some kind of restrictions on movement and gathering."
Mr Abbott said Australia's plan to meet any such challenge in the future was constantly changing.
"Certainly, all early cases of any pandemic outbreak of bird flu would receive anti-viral treatment, and, depending on the effectiveness of the anti-viral treatment, we would then reconsider whether we should keep using it for (prevention) or instead swing to a treatment strategy," he said.
He also voiced support for companies stepping up production of items such as face masks in preparation for an outbreak.
"Certainly, I'm pleased to see various companies that are producing things that might be useful in the event of a pandemic increasing their production," he said.
Mr Abbott said the prevailing view at the conference was that there was "only about a 10 per cent chance" of a world bird flu pandemic in the next year.
"That's not an insignificant chance - 10-to-one shots do come home at the races - but on the other hand, they don't always come home by any means," he said on ABC Radio in Melbourne.
He conceded it was possible that a genetic shift in the current bird flu strain could allow it to be easily transmitted to humans if the virus persisted in bird populations, but said the risk was still low.
"People ought not get too panic-stricken simply about bird flu in birds because while it's bad in poultry it's very hard for humans to catch.
"I think people think bird flu in poultry means that at any moment they could personally catch bird flu.
"We've had some 140 million chickens and ducks slaughtered in South-East Asia over the last 18 months and yet we've only had about 120 human cases," Mr Abbott said.
"For a human to catch the current strain of bird flu, you've got to be in very, very, very close contact with the birds.
"Or you've got to eat raw chicken meat or you've got to drink duck's blood or something that Australians just don't do."
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17062489%255E421,00.html
People sleep peacebly in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. -George Orwell-
October 30th 2005 3:17 PM
