Materia Medica Malaysiana

Avian flu checks not necessary

PETALING JAYA: The latest outbreak of avian flu in Vietnam does not warrant checks on passengers arriving from that country, Health Ministry disease control director Dr Ramlee Rahmat said.
“Unlike SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which was highly contagious, there has been no evidence that the avian flu can spread through humans,” he said when commenting on the recent outbreak in Vietnam.
He said the World Health Organisation had not issued any travel alerts or checks on incoming passengers from affected countries.
However, he said clinics and hospitals nationwide were on the alert to monitor for any increase in diseases that show flu-like symptoms.
“We have given guidelines to all the clinics and hospitals to check the patient's history if they come across anyone with flu-like symptoms,” he said yesterday.
“If we find out that the patient has been to an affected country, we will have to see if he or she has been exposed to poultry,” he added.
Dr Ramlee said the only known mode of transmission of the deadly flu was if the person had handled infected poultry or had been exposed to it.
Checks with the KL International Airport’s Health Department revealed that the department was conducting checks on cargo to ensure that poultry was not imported from affected countries.