March 31, 2008

 

Proper surveillance to stop bird flu in its tracks

 

 

Bird flu pandemic could be avoided if proper disease surveillance and control measures are carried out promptly and thoroughly, Yi Guan, bird flu expert and microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said.

 

Guan studied the bird flu virus after it showed up in Hong Kong in 1997 and has tracked its footprints all over the world ever since.

 

The microbiologist is convinced that the world can stop the virus in its tracks if it has enough resolve.

 

Guan and his researchers have tested more than 200,000 stool samples of chickens, aquatic and wild birds from China since 2000, screening them for the bird flu virus which experts say could cause the next flu pandemic, killing millions of people.

 

Guan has been able to compare bird flu samples, trace mutations in the virus and track its footprints.

 

Last week, in the Journal of Virology, Guan and colleagues suggested that the bird flu strains found in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia in late 2003 originated in China's southwestern Yunnan province.

 

The paper further said that poultry trade might have been responsible for the introduction of the virus into Vietnam.

 

The Indonesian virus which showed up in November 2003 was detected in China's central Hunan province in 2002 and 2003, Guan added.

 

Drawing from what is known of past pandemics, Guan emphasizes that surveillance and strict control measures are the answers.

 

Pandemics do not happen suddenly, they have an early phase, mature phase, outbreak phase. The virus changes step by step, it takes a long cooking time, Guan explained.