Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysia prevents bird flu outbreak effectively: minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The measures taken by the government so far had been effective in preventing outbreak of the bird flu in Malaysia, Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said on Friday.

"Although many countries, including our neighbors, have been affected by the outbreak, we are still safe," he told a press conference at his office here.

Chua said Malaysia was prepared to face the outbreak and had taken initial preventive step by banning poultry imports from Thailand, apart from drawing up specific action plans if the disease spread to Malaysia.

He said his ministry had not received any reports of the bird flu or avian flu virus attacking the poultry bred in the country.

So far, 10 people -- eight in Vietnam and two in Thailand -- died of the epidemic, while countries like South Korea, China, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Pakistan, Chinese Taiwan and Indonesia haveconfirmed the spread of the virus to the World Health Organization(WHO) in Geneva.

Chua said if the outbreak reached Malaysian shores, the first step that must be taken was to destroy the chicken and ducks in the farms to ensure the virus did not infect human beings.

"This step has been taken in Hong Kong, the United States and in the Netherlands not long ago, it proved successful to contain the disease," he said.

Chua also urged livestock breeders to monitor and submit reports to the ministry as soon as possible if they spotted signs of infection in their animals besides carrying out immunization.

The ministry had also ordered hospitals and medical laboratories to be ready to face the possibility of having to dealwith the virus like conducting early diagnosis of the disease, quarantine or monitor the affected areas, he said.

He said the Veterinary Services Department had also been asked to monitor bird sanctuaries and other locations to detect if the bird flu virus was carried by migratory birds.

Earlier, Chua attended a meeting in Bangkok, which discussed the bird flu outbreak along with agriculture and health ministers from the region, besides officers from the European Union, the United States, World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Enditem