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It is the turn of bird flu disease to hit Thailand. Last
Saturday’s death caused by bird flu in Vietnam has made
Thailand's Cabinet approve multi-million dollar emergency plan
to deal with possible human-to-human transmissions of bird flu.
"The Cabinet has endorsed the emergency plan to deal with bird
flu, because the outbreak in Vietnam was very severe and many
strains of the virus were found in poultry," Charal
Trinvuthipong, head of the National Avian Influenza Control
Center, told reporters.
The Cabinet endorsed spending 4.8 billion baht (124.7 million
dollars) to fight bird flu until September 2007, Chaturon
Chaisang, the deputy prime minister tasked with stamping out the
disease, told reporters. About four million bath will be spent
on an overall strategic surveillance plan and 741 million baht
is to be used on preparations. However, the livestock and health
officials still have to hammer out details on implementing the
emergency plan.
This contingency plan aims at preparing additional hospital
beds, in fact, the government was also ready to convert schools
and other buildings into makeshift hospitals if needed.
At least 12 people have died from avian flu in Thailand, which
has gone on high alert after more outbreaks of the disease were
reported this month. The avian flu in Asia has been particularly
bad, with more than 120 million poultry dying or destroyed
between January and March 2004, stated an editorial in the
journal. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 52
people in Thailand and Vietnam have been infected and 39 have
died over the past year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the bird flu
virus could mutate into a highly contagious human-to-human form
that could trigger the next global human flu pandemic, killing
up to 50 million people worldwide. It is highly recommended
every government in the region act vigilantly to prevent the
possible disaster.
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