PHILIPPINE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (NAIA) HEALTH PERSONNEL DISINFECT "ALL SHOES" OF ARRIVING PASSENGERS TO MONITOR "BIRD FLU"

By : ONLINE NEWS
2008-12-17 14:26:35

BREAKING NEWS:: PHILIPPINE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (NAIA) HEALTH PERSONNEL DISINFECT "ALL SHOES" OF ARRIVING PASSENGERS TO MONITOR "BIRD FLU"
NEWS:

The Philippine authorities remain on alert at the Philippines’ international airport (NAIA) for incoming commercial airline passengers to monitor for the dreaded avian flu virus, said an airport Filipino official said Wednesday, Manila time.

“We are strict with our screening process and we are ready in the event of any passenger sick with the disease. We can quickly isolate him and quarantine the plane,” said Manila International Airport Authority general manager Alfonso Cusi to reporters.

According to airport general manager Cusi, the thermal scanning devices at the arrival areas at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (NAIA) three airport terminals are being used full time to monitor or detect those arriving passengers from abroad with fever, one of the initial symptoms of bird flu.

RELATED REPORTS FROM MANILA

The disinfection of all shoes of arriving international airline passengers, particularly those who come from countries where there are reported cases of bird flu outbreak, will remain in effect, according to airport general managr Cusi.

Cusi cited the airports' standing agreement with the Parañaque City General Hospital for the treatment and confinement of any passengers suspected of being sick with avian flu.

“The sick passenger will be isolated in a special PCGH ward, in accordance with our protocol. Even his seatmates in the plane would be quarantined for observation, just to make sure,” Cusi added.

Last week, authorities in Hong Kong suspended poultry imports for 21 days and slaughtered 80,000 birds after three chickens found dead at a farm on December 8 tested positive for the H5 virus group that causes bird flu.

On December 12, Cambodia’s health ministry confirmed the country's eighth human case of bird flu since 2005. The man was brought to a hospital in the capital Phnom Penh for treatment.

On Monday, Indian authorities said the deadly viral strain of the disease was found among samples taken from dead chickens in the eastern state of West Bengal. The slaughter of fowl is being undertaken in the village of Lorhata.

On Tuesday, Manila time, authorities in Jiangsu province in eastern China said they killed nearly 400,000 fowl after bird flu was discovered in chickens in the county of Hai’an and Dontai City.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there have been 390 confirmed cases of the disease in humans worldwide since 2003. Of that number, 246 were fatal.

Twenty countries had outbreaks of the disease during the first nine months of 2008, down from 25 during the same period in 2007, according to the WHO.

After the Hong Kong outbreak, the WHO urged countries to remain vigilant in outbreak prevention and early detention. Some health experts worry that people were losing interest because the virus had not mutated into a much-feared form that could spread easily among people.