Lastly, people considered to be in high risk groups should be vaccinated prior to the flu season.
It is also important that government agencies cooperate and abandon the divisions of the past.
First, the Immigration Office should improve its computerized management operations system, including keeping tabs on people traveling to and from areas where avian flu has been reported.
Second, the government should tell airlines and people working in the hospitality industry how to identify bird flu, and what to do if they come into contact with it.
Third, they should increase the rewards for uncovering smuggling, and ensure that the public knows that illegally imported livestock are likely to pose a public health threat.
Fortunately, at this point transmission of the avian flu virus to humans has been limited.
If we remain on our guard, we will be able to evade a catastrophe.
King Chwan-chuen is a professor at the Institute of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health at National Taiwan University.
Translated by Eddy Chang and Paul Cooper
RSS