Having read the article Government to hold simulation exercise (TMID, 20 October), please allow me to courteously make the following comments.

I am pleased to note that the government (carried out) a simulation exercise to evaluate the response time of all those involved in the eventuality of an outbreak of avian flu. While the aim of the exercise was to prepare for what needs to be done, and take the necessary precautions without causing undue alarm over something that has not arrived in Malta, there is a good possibility that one fine day the first case of H5N1 is locally determined.

This is more so when one considers that, at the time of writing this article, the Greek authorities have begun the systematic disinfection of a farm on a remote island in the Aegean Sea where a lone turkey was found to be infected with a strain of bird flu.

Meanwhile, tests on the Greek bird are being carried out at the European Union’s laboratory in Weybridge, England, to determine if it was infected with the H5N1 strain. As your readers are aware, Greece is less than a day’s journey for migrating birds passing through Malta. It has been reported that the Rural Affairs and Environ-ment Minister said that “other precautions were being taken”, without specifying what these precautions are.

Mr Pullicino explained that the ministry had drawn up a contingency plan which had been approved by the European Commission. Can the minister kindly confirm what this contingency plan consists of?

Rather than simulating unproductive exercises and simulations that may only serve as “eye-catching news items”, it would be wiser to prepare a much more serious plan of action in the event of unprecedented outbreak and, God forbid, the H5N1 strain mutating further to the extent it may be passed on between humans.

It makes sense to identify the “backyard industry” and the thousands of private households that own a wide variety of birds and pigeons to register their birds with their local council. How can the authorities effect an intensive and effective culling of such birds in private possession, if compelled to do so? This is something to which the authorities must not turn a blind eye. If people own chickens, turkeys or ducks that are not registered and do not register them, how can one be certain of culling all birds in the case of the spread of disease?

The virus has affected birds in several countries, including Croatia, Romania, Turkey and Greece and it is only a matter of time before we may have the first reported case in Malta.

The government should

ideally ban hunting altogether for the time being, both as a precautionary measure and also for the safety of the hunters. Nature reserves must be fully quarantined and maintained under strict 24-hour surveillance. Points of entry, such as the Malta International Airport, the Malta Freeport and Grand Harbour, should also be monitored accordingly. Low and high pathogenic avian influenza tests should be made public to ensure transparency.

The government should ban the import of live fowl, poultry products and eggs, as well as the transit transportation of poultry loads that have passed through the territories of Turkey, Greece, and Romania.

On Tuesday, European Union foreign ministers declared the spread of bird flu from Asia into Europe as a “global threat” (TMID, 19 October) requiring international action.

Finally, antiviral flu drugs (such as Relenza and Tamiflu), and effective vaccines, should be stockpiled and made immediately available for administration at schools, geriatric homes, hospitals and also for us citizens. In the US, newspapers have reported that US scientists have tested a vaccine that appears effective against a strain of bird flu that has killed at least 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.

Apart from the human danger, countries hit by bird flu in its various forms can face grave economic losses. The milder H5N7 strain struck Holland in 2003, prompting the slaughter of 30 million birds and losses estimated at 500 million euros.

In this scenario, prevention is better than cure.

Martin Vella

Kalkara