More control measures to fight Influenza A(H1N1)

Measures to control Influenza Type A (H1N1) - will be adopted in Asean countries in accordance with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

Emphasis will be on causing minimal effects to travel, trade and the way of life in member countries, an Asean+3 meeting on the disease announced yesterday.

Surveillance of the disease will be maintained under a 2005 WHO regulation, as long as the WHOdesignated Alert Level 5 remains unchanged, said Public Health Ministry deputy permanent secretary Siriphorn Kanchana.

Officials from South Korea, Japan and China took part in the meeting together with representatives of the 10 Asean member countries.

There are now five million antiviral oseltamivir tablets stocked in Singapore and another five million in Thailand ready for use in case of local outbreaks, Siriphorn said. A project to develop a vaccine against the disease is underway.

A joint project between WHO and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention will soon begin further study into Type A (H1N1) to minimise its humantohuman transfer capability.

Dr.Toomus Palu, a senior World Bank official, who attended yesterday's meeting, said it was now too premature to estimate global economic damage caused by the outbreak, because assessment processes were timeconsuming. He said the WB had only recently completed its reports on economic damage caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and avian flu, years after their outbreaks.

Palu, lead health specialist attached to WB's human development sector coordinator department, said damage assessment would be conducted soon in Mexico, the source of Type A (H1N1), and that WB had not yet considered allocating special budgets for measures to control the disease in any country.