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THREAT: UK is 'due' a bout of flu, says doc.
THREAT: UK is 'due' a bout of flu, says doc.

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Doctor issues bird flu warning

Roland Hancock
27/ 9/2005

A LEADING Manchester doctor has criticised the government for being badly prepared for bird flu.

As reported infections continue to spread across the globe - most recently in Indonesia - Dr Kailash Chand has accused the government of having too few drugs and too little planning.

So far the disease can only be passed from birds to humans in close contact and has not mutated into a form which can pass from human to human. But doctors fear that such a mutation could kill up to 50,000 in Britain without drugs.

Dr Chand, a GP and local representative of the British Medical Association, said: "What the government's response seems to me is some kind of denial. The Department of Health is not accepting that an avian flu epidemic could be a reality.

"A lot more needs to be done. GPs on the front line have had no planning advice from the government on how to deal with a large scale outbreak, but your local GP would be a first point of call.

"I'm not trying to be alarmist, but we need to have a better policy so that nobody suffers. The government cannot close its eyes any more."

Overdue

His warning comes after reported outbreaks of bird to human infection in Kazakhstan and central Asian parts of Russia at the end of August, though there have been no reported cases in Europe.

North west health chiefs are adamant that there is no immediate threat from bird flu, though they do admit that the we are overdue some form of flu epidemic.

Hugh Lamont, of the north west Health Protection Agency, said: "We have done a lot of work to prepare for a flu pandemic. It won't necessarily be bird flu, as there is no evidence yet of the virus transferring from human to human, and it is still very difficult to catch.

"But there is a flu pandemic every 30 to 40 years, and the last one we had was in 1968, so we are overdue one."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "If an outbreak did occur we would first ask GPs to identify any new strain, then isolate any sufferers while we pinpointed and vaccinated against the virus. If infection carried on there are whole raft of social measures, including banning football matches and pop concerts, that we could take."

Do you think we're ill-prepared for avian flu? Have your say.


| Submit CommentSubmit Comments | View CommentsView Comments(8)


Most recent 2 of 8 user comments

   For more than eighteen months I have been talking to people about the threat of avain flu and am amazed that so few people have any idea of how serious this situation is. I am convinced that the media has been deliberately suppressed on this subject, why else would the newspapers be so uninterested in what could be the story of the century. It tells me only one thing, that we as a nation and too, the rest of the world, are not even close to being prepared. Health authorities in the UK are being sent leaflets to give to the public in the advent of a pandemic offering useful information like 'cover your mouth if you cough' & 'wash your hands'... I can only presume it was produced by the same much needed group of over paid experts that told us all in the 60's to get under the stairs with a mattress and bottled water in the advent of a nuclear war. The W.H.O. have stated that a pandemic is coming, it is not a question of if, but when. My advice is. Use the internet to learn all you can about this virus, you will be in a much better position to plan for yourself and your family if you know the enemy (avian flu). Do not depend on the system, the system will not be able to cope.
Bob Nightingale, Andover Hampshire
28/09/2005 at 20:47

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   Thank you for continuing to bring this issue to the attention of the people. I agree the potential for a world wide pandemic is real and one for which few are prepared. Although prevention is the only real hope for millions, I, for one, have already purchased a presciption for Tamiflu, the only know effective treatment, for each member of my family. Please continue to keep this topic in the public eye. Thank you, TCleaver, MD
TCleaver, MD, USA
28/09/2005 at 14:20

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