A government doctor yesterday strongly urged holidaymakers to avoid direct contact with live birds to minimize the risk of getting infected with the avian flu while visiting the mainland or other places during the Lunar New Year holidays.

Centre for Health Protection consultant Thomas Tsang expressed grave concern over the movement of a massive number of people during the long holidays. Tsang said that the most effective way of reducing the risk is to adhere to a high standard of personal hygiene.

Tsang made the comments a day after the Health Ministry confirmed the country's tenth human case of avian influenza. The latest victim is a 29-year-old woman in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, who began to show pneumonia symptoms on January 17 and tested positive for the deadly disease.

Though Tsang said an outbreak similar to those of neighboring countries was unlikely in the city, he didn't rule out the potential for sporadic cases after people returned from overseas after the holidays. Still, he was confident the local surveillance system would detect the disease early enough to bring it under control.

"We are very concerned about the avian flu situation in the whole world, especially during winter when there is a relatively higher risk of avian flu in migratory birds," he said. "If travelers adopt all the advised measures and avoid direct contact with live birds, the risk would be low."

Tsang said the mode of transmission remained their top concern, believing that most of the documented human cases involved direct contact with poultry.

He added that although there had been a few cases in Viet Nam and the mainland in which exposure to poultry was not obvious, nobody could rule out that the victims had come in contact with migratory birds in the wild until the concerned authorities completed their investigation.

Not between humans

"From the point of view of scientists, the H5N1 virus still has not acquired the ability to transmit between humans efficiently," he said.

So far, human cases have occurred in seven provinces and regions, namely Anhui, Guangxi, Liaoning, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan and Sichuan. Six of the 10 mainland patients have died.

Tsang said that they had written to all doctors to alert them of the latest situation and call on them to heighten vigilance. Border measures, including temperature scan, have also been stepped up.

He said the authorities were not taking any chances on the avian flu issue. For instance, the centre has traced all the people who may have come in direct contact with the dead bird that tested positive for H5N1 in Tai Po. He said this was now a standard procedure.

In addition, he said health officials from Hong Kong visited the Health Ministry in Beijing and local authorities in Guangdong about a week ago to ensure that timely communication on new cases would not be hampered by the long holiday break.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the world is experiencing the third wave of the avian flu attack. The first wave began in Asia in mid-2003, followed by the second wave surfacing in Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia and the mainland in June 2004. The current wave also started in Asia in December 2004. But before the outbreaks, 20 human cases had been reported in Hong Kong of whom seven died.

Also, the authorities have since November 7 administered over 242,000 vials of human flu vaccines to 92 percent of handicapped persons in special homes, 93 percent of the elders in homes for the aged and 76 percent of healthcare workers of the Department of Health.

Citing past trends, Tsang said the peak season for human influenza was about to hit the city in February or March and called on people vulnerable to the risk to get vaccinated.

"To prevent infection, people should wash their hands frequently, cover their noses and mouths with tissue paper while coughing and sneezing, refrain from going to work or school, and wear a mask if they experience respiratory problems," Tsang said.

(China Daily HK Edition January 25, 2006)