Doctors call for ‘roadmap’ for Irish bird flu outbreak

IRELAND must have a clear roadmap strategy to deal with a major bird flu outbreak in the near future, top medics warned yesterday.

The virus has killed 128 people worldwide and the nearest case of the deadly H5N1 strain was confirmed in Scotland in April.

The incidence of infection is expected to increase again in September, when up to 50 billion migratory birds head south for the winter across mainland Europe.

A seminar on bird flu was held in Dublin yesterday, organised by pharmaceutical company, Roche. At the seminar, infectious diseases expert Dr John Lambert said the Health Service Executive (HSE) must establish isolation units to contain a prospective outbreak among a small number of people.

Isolation units are planned for the Mater Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin but construction has yet to begin.

“Preparations must begin now on better surveillance, stockpiling of flu medicines and vaccines,” Dr Lambert said.

“Isolation units won’t necessarily prevent a pandemic outbreak but will contain a small outbreak and prevent further infection,” he added.

Dr Lambert warned that GPs will be in the firing line when the first cases occur and accident & emergency units will also be inundated.

He accepted a major disease pandemic would be a challenge for the State’s health services, which he said suffered from a lack of investment until the recent boom in the economy.

Dr Lambert, who is attached to Dublin’s Mater Hospital, said the US state of Maryland, which is the same size as Ireland, has 24 infectious disease doctors compared to only seven in this country.

Dr Lambert said the Irish Government has done quite well in its preparations to date, but he called for infectious disease specialists to be ready to go on call on a 24/7 basis.

London-based Professor John Oxford asserted that there was a huge responsibility on the Government to prevent a major pandemic because it could ruin the economy.

Prof Oxford, who is professor of viVirology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal London Hospital, said the Government should set itself an 18-month deadline to begin finalising its preparations.

“That is a sensible time frame. Who would have thought Ireland is ahead on many components like the stockpiling of drugs. But the emphasis must be on a comprehensive roadmap with a timeline,” Prof Oxford said.

The medics agreed that the objective must be to prevent deaths or maintain the lowest possible death rate.

After outbreaks across continental Europe, the H5N1 deadly strain was confirmed in a mute swan in Cellardyke Harbour in eastern Scotland in early April.

Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan has insisted that Ireland has robust controls to prevent infection.

The World Health Organisation has warned that it cannot predict the timing or severity of a future pandemic, but the probability it will occur has increased.