(VOVworld) – Closer monitoring of acute pneumonia patients and border quarantine services are two important tools for dealing with avian flu, the National Steering Committee on Bird Flu Prevention and Control said at a meeting on Tuesday. According to the Department of Preventive Medicine, Vietnam’s long border with China makes controlling poultry smuggling a tough challenge.

Border guards detect poultry smuggling on rivers (Photo: sggp.org.vn)

At the moment, no vaccine or medicine is available for H7N9, and the cause and infection method have not been discovered, so it is difficult to control the epidemic and define specific preventive measures. The Department for Diagnosis and Treatment Management has lined up treatment facilities and other medical resources for a swift response if a plague breaks out. Nguyen Trong Khoa, Deputy Head of the Department for Diagnosis and Treatment Management, said:"We have assigned hospitals to provide treatment when the first infection is detected. They will rely on current infrastructure to treat patients and monitor the situation, exchanging clinical evaluations and data with other medical institutions if an epidemic develops".

Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long urged the sector to work to prevent an outbreak of bird flu, and requested that hospitals prepare treatment areas, quarantine areas, and medicines, accelerate training courses for local medical staff, and organize bird flu prevention simulation.