Asia Times: Time the enemy in bird-flu fight

[unhappycamper]

Time the enemy in bird-flu fight
By Marwaan Macan-Markaar
Sep 23, 2005

BANGKOK - As Indonesia grapples with the specter of deaths from bird flu, public health officials in the region are racing against time to put into place a pandemic prevention operation that comes down to one word - speed.

The fate of millions of lives in Asia hangs on the speed with which a patient, infected with a human-to-human transmission of a mutated strain of bird flu, is diagnosed and prevention measures are implemented.

"We will only have a 21-day golden period to stop the virus spreading and becoming a pandemic," said Dr Kumnuan Ungchusak, director of epidemiology at Thailand's department ofdisease control and a key player in plans being mapped out to stall the virus ravaging Southeast Asia. "A longer delay, even a month, can be fatal."

The new urgency follows the deaths announced Wednesday of two young girls admitted to Jakarta hospitals after they developed symptoms indicating bird flu. Nine others are currently under treatment for suspected bird flu in Indonesia.

MORE
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GI23Ae04.html