ID :
59358
Thu, 05/07/2009 - 12:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/59358
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Regional meet on Influenza A (H1N1) kicks off in Bangkok
BANGKOK, May 7 (TNA) – A regional meeting on Influenza A (H1N1) started in Bangkok Thursday seeking effective measures to fight the threat of the new virus amid tightened medical security.
Permanent Secretary for Public Health Prat Boonyawongvirot presided over the opening of the meeting at Dusit Thani Hotel, attended by about 100 senior public health officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries plus their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police commissioner Worapong Chiewpreecha stationed at the commanding centre at the hotel.
He said both police and military teams are assigned to work together to provide security inside and outside the venue.
He said this meeting will boost confidence of foreign representatives, who will attend the next ASEAN meeting to be held in the Andaman Sea resort Island of Phuket in June.
The regional meeting is aimed to prevent the influenza outbreak in the region, which has a population of more than 500 million altogether.
It will also adjust disease control measures to be drafted as a regional cooperative framework, to be proposed to the public health ministers meeting on Friday for consideration.
The ASEAN+3 Health Ministers' special meeting has discussed the latest situation reports regarding the Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak, with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via a video teleconference.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, a senior official of the CDC said through the teleconference that the spread of the H1N1 is not severe as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 because influenza A (H1N1) can be contained.
She said human H1N1 infections are not likely to come from pigs directly and that no pigs in the US have been detected with Influenza A (H1N1) virus, the variety of the virus found in human cases.
Speaking to fears that the influenza A (H1N1) may mutate into more virulent forms, she said that currently, the H1N1 virus detected in the US and Mexico is the same form and there has been no mutation at the moment.
Thai Minister of Public Health Witthaya Kaewparadai met his Chinese counterpart Chen Zhu.
He said China sees regional cooperation as being important and he is prepared to transfer technology in producing vaccines to ASEAN countries and to supply the antiviral drug oseltamivir if a pandemic occurs.
Meanwhile, many businesses in Mexico have re-opened after a five-day shutdown caused by the swine flu outbreak that killed 44 people, including two in the US.
Poland and Sweden confirmed their first cases of swine flu, which has now reached 24 countries.
In Thailand, there have been no cases detected under the surveillance and screening measures from April 28 to May 7. There were 18 suspected cases, of which 13 were confirmed free of the H1N1 virus and five cases are awaiting lab test results. (TNA)
Permanent Secretary for Public Health Prat Boonyawongvirot presided over the opening of the meeting at Dusit Thani Hotel, attended by about 100 senior public health officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries plus their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police commissioner Worapong Chiewpreecha stationed at the commanding centre at the hotel.
He said both police and military teams are assigned to work together to provide security inside and outside the venue.
He said this meeting will boost confidence of foreign representatives, who will attend the next ASEAN meeting to be held in the Andaman Sea resort Island of Phuket in June.
The regional meeting is aimed to prevent the influenza outbreak in the region, which has a population of more than 500 million altogether.
It will also adjust disease control measures to be drafted as a regional cooperative framework, to be proposed to the public health ministers meeting on Friday for consideration.
The ASEAN+3 Health Ministers' special meeting has discussed the latest situation reports regarding the Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak, with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via a video teleconference.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, a senior official of the CDC said through the teleconference that the spread of the H1N1 is not severe as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 because influenza A (H1N1) can be contained.
She said human H1N1 infections are not likely to come from pigs directly and that no pigs in the US have been detected with Influenza A (H1N1) virus, the variety of the virus found in human cases.
Speaking to fears that the influenza A (H1N1) may mutate into more virulent forms, she said that currently, the H1N1 virus detected in the US and Mexico is the same form and there has been no mutation at the moment.
Thai Minister of Public Health Witthaya Kaewparadai met his Chinese counterpart Chen Zhu.
He said China sees regional cooperation as being important and he is prepared to transfer technology in producing vaccines to ASEAN countries and to supply the antiviral drug oseltamivir if a pandemic occurs.
Meanwhile, many businesses in Mexico have re-opened after a five-day shutdown caused by the swine flu outbreak that killed 44 people, including two in the US.
Poland and Sweden confirmed their first cases of swine flu, which has now reached 24 countries.
In Thailand, there have been no cases detected under the surveillance and screening measures from April 28 to May 7. There were 18 suspected cases, of which 13 were confirmed free of the H1N1 virus and five cases are awaiting lab test results. (TNA)
