The ongoing outbreak of avian influenza among the poultry is prevalent in several places throughout the four corners of the world. Especially the South East Asian countries including Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia has been particularly vulnerable to the havocs caused by the epidemic in the recent times.
It is also reported that the disease has been sporadically occurring in humans in these countries. It is not that the epidemic has restricted itself to these parts of the globe. In Europe, even in the American continents and Africa and Australia the epidemic has been the reason of mass destruction and havoc through yesteryears.
This situation has raised a great threat to the public health in the continents where bird influenza is frequent as infection among birds has become endemic to the region and that human infections will continue to occur. So it has become a mandatory step through the whole of the globe to take drastic steps and preventive measure against the disaster before the pandemic breaks out.
Precaution is the only way to prevention
Although scientific studies and researches has revealed that the flu virus in general does not gets transmitted through human to human by any biological or physical means, but it still essential for the while human race to get prepared if such a pandemic breaks out. In these regard a few preventive steps are taken in those continents that are prone to it.
Some of the most prominent preventive programs included international surveillance and poultry vaccination, stringent checkouts in bird smuggling, and bans in the import of birds from the areas that are prone to bird flu.
Rapid quarantining and culling of the infected flocks may also help in reducing the chances of the wide spread of the virus effectively. Avian flu vaccines are being tested in human volunteers and stockpiling of such vaccines and other antiviral drugs are done on a large scale and on a worldwide basis to combat any possible outbreaks.
Precaution for the common man
Considering the present scenario, it is been advised to those persons who are planning to travel to a country where there has been an outbreak, to avoid any contact with chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys, quail, or any wild birds.
They should stay away from the live bird markets, local poultry farms, or any other settings where there might be infected poultry. Surfaces that may have been possibly contaminated by bird saliva, urine or feces should also be avoided. Organization such as CDC may be useful for travel advisories.
