December 23, 1997
The export of chicken from mainland to Hong Kong would be temporarily suspended from midnight today (Tuesday) to allow for appropriate controls to be introduced.
This voluntary measure by mainland authority was revealed by the Deputy Director of Health and Chairman of the Inter-Departmental Co-ordinating Committee on Influenza A H5N1, Dr Paul Saw, at a press conference after the Committee's meeting today (Tuesday).
Speaking at a press conference after the Committee's meeting today (Tuesday), Deputy Director of Health and Chairman of the Committee, Dr Paul Saw, said evidence so far suggested exposure to chicken or its faeces as a possible source of infection of the avian virus, while direct man-to-man transmission needed to be determined.
He reiterated that eating chicken is safe so long as they are well-cooked. Anyone who has been in contact with chicken should wash their hands thoroughly. He added that the virus could be easily killed by thorough cleansing using common disinfectants.
Also speaking at the press conference, Senior Veterinary Officer of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Dr Leslie Sims said the temporary suspension was introduced as a precautionary measure and to ensure the health status of chickens imported into Hong Kong in the future.
Dr Sims said when chickens are imported again from the mainland, the AFD would have in place a new blood test for imported birds.
"Each shipment of imported birds will be screened for evidence of Flu A infection using a rapid blood test."
"The laboratory will be working shifts to ensure that initial testing is completed before the birds are sold the following morning."
"Any shipments that test positive will not be allowed to be sold until further testing can be done to assess the birds."
In the meantime, the AFD would continue testing all local chicken farms for the H5N1 virus. All local farms should be tested within 10 days.
Dr Sims pointed out that results available so far found H5N1 virus in two swabs of chicken droppings collected from two market stalls. They were swabs collected some 10 days ago.
With the co-operation of the operator of the chicken stall involved, the whole batch of chicken had been handed over to AFD for destruction. Thorough cleansing of the market would also be conducted today.
Another sample collected from a dead bird at a wholesale market at the initial clean up was also tested positive but the source was not clear.
But Dr Sims stressed that there was no report of unusual deaths in wholesale and retail markets last week.
"The AFD would continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate action where necessary."
As regards other preventive measures of the action plan drawn up by the Inter-Departmental Co-ordinating Committee on Influenza A H5N1, they had been implemented smoothly.
Dr Saw reported that the Department of Health (DH) had stepped up surveillance for Flu A H5N1 at public clinics and hospitals since early this month. Apart from Government's General Out-patients clinics and hospitals, the assistance of 17 private doctors had been solicited. The programme involving private practitioners would begin after the Christmas holidays.
"This enhanced surveillance is expected to pick up more cases and is an important step to detect a wider spectrum of presentation of cases to provide more information on the new strain and its mode of transmission."
At the same time, the Department had made arrangements with private laboratories to offer quick test for Influenza A to private practitioners whose patients might want to have their swabs so tested. If the swabs were found to be Flu A positive, they could be referred to public laboratories for further testing of the H5 strain free of charge.
So far, some 15 private laboratories had agreed to offer such tests at a cost of about $400 each. The full implementation of this trial scheme was expected to start in early January. It would initially be put on trial for one month.
On environmental hygiene, the two municipal services departments had completed another round of inspection of fresh provision shops and market stalls and issued guidelines to all operators on the handling of poultry.
Improvement measures on environmental hygiene at public markets and fresh provision shop had also been implemented. Blitz cleaning of markets and fresh provision shops would also be conducted in the coming week. So far, no sign of abnormal numbers of poultry showing symptoms of infection had been detected.
The Hospital Authority had set up a taskforce on H5N1 to provide expert advice on the matter and to liaise and collaborate with other Government Departments to ensure appropriate prevention and surveillance of the infection.
On the publicity and education front, Dr Saw said the hotlines set up by DH had received about 8000 calls. TV and radio announcements had been broadcast. Information on preventive measures had also been passed to schools, child care centres, welfare services units and the public through the Education Department, the Social Welfare Department and the Home Affairs Department.
He pointed out that while guidelines had been issued to doctors and fact sheet for tourist distributed through Hong Kong Tourist Association and the Hong Kong Government Overseas Office, members of the public and people from overseas could get the latest information from the Department's Homepage on the Internet.
Dr Saw stressed that all Government Departments concerned had been doing its best to implement preventive measures to combat the virus, while scientist were still working hard to find out more about its virulence and mode of transmission.
There was a new suspected case of Flu A H5N1 today. The case involves a 60 years-old female who was now under treatment and in critical condition. This brought the total number of cases to nine confirmed and three suspected ones.