Japan Drills for bird flu
Pastor Dale Morgan
Monday February 5, 4:47 PM Reuters*
Japan Drills for bird flu *
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan held a drill on Monday to test its readiness for
dealing with human cases of bird flu, with a limping mock patient --
wearing a white mask and labelled "Mr. A" -- being whisked to hospital
in an ambulance and tested.
The drill in Tokushima prefecture in southern Japan was based on a
scenario in which two people develop symptoms of bird flu after
returning from a country where the H5N1 virus has mutated into a form
that passes easily from person to person.
The first mock patient dies in hospital after local residents given
roles as family members and neighbours test negative for the virus, an
official at the prefectural office said.
But the second patient wanders off on a train and spreads the virus to
two others before the drill ends, with the patient's whereabouts unclear
although local areas are sealed off to prevent further infection.
As part of the drill, the local governor held a video conference call
with Health Ministry officials in Tokyo to exchange information, and the
prefecture was called on to update the public on the cases via the Internet.
Officials said there was no plan at present for a follow-up to the
drill, which was the second for the government but the first held in
conjunction with local authorities.
The H5N1 virus has killed 165 people worldwide since 2003, most of them
in Asia, and more than 200 million birds have died from it, or been
killed to prevent its spread.
Experts fear the virus could spark a pandemic if it develops into a form
that is highly infectious among humans.
Japan's government estimates that such a virus could lead to deaths of
up to 640,000 people within the country.
Japan has had four outbreaks of the H5N1 virus at poultry farms this
year, although there have been no cases of human infection from the
virus in the country.
Prior to this year, Japan suffered four outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu
in 2004.
There are some chicken farms in Tokushima, but so far there have been no
outbreaks of the disease there.