Thailand in the Dark about Burma’s Bird Flu

      
Thailand in the Dark about Burma’s Bird Flu
By Sai Silp
April 24, 2006




Thai public health authorities and medical NGOs are getting ready for a bird flu outbreak on the Thai-Burma border area of Tak province.

An official from the Tak Provincial Public Health Office told The Irrawaddy today that they have already supplied flu vaccines to all medical staff working in refugee camps and with Burmese migrants in Tak province. A limited number of Tamilflu tablets have also been distributed to refugee camps and the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot.

Representatives from NGOs were given the vaccine today and Tamilflu will be issued on April 26, the official said.

“Medical staff [working with migrants] is the first group to receive this vaccine because of their work with high risk groups and they can identify the disease. The vaccine for refugees is not available yet because of a budget problem.”   

A local staff member for the International Organization for Migration based in Mae Sot said that the control of a possible bird flu outbreak in the refugee camps would be easier to manage than one among the transient migrant groups living along the border.

Thai public health authorities are concerned about a lack of information about the bird flu situation in Burma. The IOM staff member said they had decided having a protection plan was the safest way to proceed.

“We’ve heard about outbreaks in poultry and human cases inside Burma, but the news is not confirmed. We have to be careful because we cannot control wild bird migration, and movement of people on the borderline is unpredictable.”

Thai health authorities say there is a need to raise awareness and concern among aid agencies working with Burmese migrants. An official said a lack of reliable health data from Burma meant they could not predict the actual situation inside.

The IOM official said they were working closely with Thai authorities.

“They gave us five doses of Tamilflu for each camp, and five for Mae Tao Clinic. Tamilflu is most effective if used within 48 hours of the flu symptoms starting. If we need more, we can ask the Thai authorities to supply it,” the official added.

The IOM official said bird flu management in Thailand is successful, but for refugees and migrants the policy is still not clear and local organizations are trying to set up a testing system and an immediate treatment response plan to prevent the spread of the disease.      

The provincial health authority has already provided medical equipment, such as disease rapid testing kits, for use along the border area by specially trained staff.

Thai health officials say that in the event of a suspected case of H5N1 bird flu virus occurring in the refugee camps, a lock down would be enforced to stop people and poultry moving in and out of the camp. Following recent bird flu outbreaks, authorities have already stopped the flow of poultry in and out of the camps.

Tak public health officials have been meeting to formulate plans for possible outbreaks on the border since January 2006.

http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irrawaddy.org%2Faviewer.asp%3Fa%3D5679%26z%3D154

Ok this is pretty scary....anyone see any reports from Burma? Am I reading this right?  It sounds like it is H2H there or they suspect it might be.

I think that's our biggest fear, that things are happening inside countries that are not being reported. There could be clusters that we never know about. Worth keeping our eyes open. Even at my child's school, things happen that are never report, kept under wraps. We only hear about it if a kid sees it.