Cambodia calls for urgent SEAsian swine flu summit

2009-04-29
By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

Cambodia's prime minister called Wednesday for an urgent meeting of Southeast Asian leaders to discuss how the region that suffered through bird flu and SARS can keep away swine flu.

"We need common measures to prevent and fight against the fast spread of swine flu," Prime Minister Hun Sen said. "Southeast Asian leaders should have an emergency meeting right now."

Southeast Asian countries have not yet confirmed any cases of swine flu, but scores of tests were being carried out on anyone reporting flu symptoms. New Zealand confirmed 14 cases _ the first in the Asia-Pacific region _ and South Korea was awaiting final test results in a "probable" case, all in people recently returned from Mexico.

Hun Sen, one of the region's most outspoken leaders, called on Thailand to host the meeting as the rotating chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It should include health, agriculture and other relevant ministers, he said.

Governments in Asia have potent memories of the 2003 SARS crisis and bird flu. Bird flu first began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in 2003 and has caused 257 human fatalities, mostly in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said in a statement Wednesday that officials have "the necessary experience" from past outbreaks to coordinate as "swine flu threatens to spread to the region."

He said ASEAN was ready to quickly tap its emergency stockpile of 1 million courses of Tamiflu and Relenza, antiviral drugs that appear to be effective in combatting swine flu if the treatment is given early enough.

A teleconference was being arranged with the region's health officials and infectious disease experts "to review current preventative measures ... and the need to consider a common stand" on regional matters like border controls, quarantines and surveillance, the statement said.

Several countries in the region, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore, were quick to install thermal scanners at airports to check for signs of fever in arriving passengers.
___
Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Hun Sen proposes emergency meeting of ASEAN to deal with swine flu

Cambodia PM proposes emergency meeting of ASEAN to deal with swine flu

By Xia Lin, Long Heng

PHNOM PENH, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Wednesday proposed to hold an emergency meeting of ASEAN countries to seek measures against the deadly swine influenza outbreak.

"We should have an emergency meeting among the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, if possible, to take actions against the deadly swine flu," he told a student graduation ceremony of the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh.

Thailand has to play the role of chairman for this meeting, he said, adding that currently Thailand is the chair country of ASEAN.

"We have to find measures to prevent and fight against this fast spread of pig flu," he said.

We also need to seek ways to prevent this epidemic from affecting bilateral trade among the regional countries, if it occurs in one of them, he added.

Meanwhile, the premier appealed to the local people not to panic over swine flu, as pork is still edible if properly cooked.

However, people with high body temperature must wear masks and rush to hospital, he said, adding that "Cambodia has weak facilities, but our spirit is strong."

The Ministry of Health (MoH) will require any citizen or foreign visitor, who are suspected of catching this illness, not to fly to other countries, he said.

"We will take him to hospital for treatment," he added.

In addition, the premier confirmed that there is no sign of swine flu occurrence among pigs and human beings in Cambodia, adding that the government has not adopted any ban on pork importation from its neighboring countries.

Also on Wednesday, Sem Sovan, secretary general of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries, told Xinhua that the ministry has been closely tracking the development of swine flu since it was first found in other countries.

"We selected some samples from the pig farms across our own country to test for swine flu, but up to now, we don't spot any sign of it. There are no suspected cases of swine flu on pigs in Cambodia at all," he added.

In the mean time, Ly Sovan, deputy director of the Anti-communicable Disease Department of MoH, also testified this updated information made public by the premier and the secretary general.

"At the airports, our unit is monitoring the passengers who traveled here from the affected countries," he added.

The government installed a thermal scanner at the Phnom Penh International Airport on Tuesday and another one at the Siem Reap International Airport on Wednesday.

These two terminals are the only international airports in the kingdom. A third airport is situated in Sihanouk province, but only serves domestic flights.

In 2007, over two million foreign visitors arrived in Cambodia.

On Monday, The World Health Organization (WHO) and MoH issued a joint statement late Monday, saying that "medical clinics are asked to immediately report any unusual influenza like illness cases to MoH. WHO Western Pacific Regional Office is closely monitoring the situation in the region and has activated its outbreak and emergency management protocols," it said.

In addition, "Cambodia has increased its surveillance for unusual respiratory illness in hospitals, health centers and airport," it said.

"While there is no vaccine against this type of influenza, there are a range of possible treatments although it is not yet clear which will be most appropriate," it said.

"Cambodia has prepared stockpiles of various resources, including medication to treat viral illness, and has access to additional regional supplies if required," it added.

Meanwhile, according to Sok Touch, director of the Anti-communicable Disease Department of MoH, the ministry will use the existing equipment and system nationwide for combating bird flu to monitor swine flu.

The ministry will cooperate with WHO to take actions on the pig-farming industry if necessary, but the very next step will focus on travelers from the infected areas, he added.

So far, swine influenza has killed 159 people in Mexico, led to68 human contamination cases in U.S., and affected altogether 23 countries in the world.