Malta gearing up to combat flu pandemic

New equipment installed at St Luke's Hospital will enable health authorities to know whether the influenza virus causing the dreaded pandemic has arrived.

Within three hours of taking a sample from a sick person, the health authorities would know if the virus is the same as that identified by the World Health Organisation as causing a world-wide pandemic, which flu experts have long been saying is overdue.

Speaking during a media briefing yesterday, Ray Busuttil, the director general of health, said this is only one of several measures the authorities have been taking to ensure the country is fully prepared to deal with a possible pandemic outbreak.

"An influenza pandemic can come at any time and we need to be prepared by joining forces and coming up with the best plan for Malta," the Principal Permanent Secretary, Godwin Grima, who is chairing the multi-ministerial pandemic preparedness committee, said.

Despite fears that the H5N1 avian influenza virus - which has been found in poultry and wild birds, mostly in Asia, and infected a small number of people who had direct contact with sick birds - will mutate into a form which is easily transmissible from person to person, the WHO has not yet increased its alert level.

The current level of alert stands at phase three, with no or very limited human-to-human transmission. Level six indicates that a pandemic has started.

One of the biggest problems in preparing for the pandemic is that its features - including when it will start, what virus will be causing it and how strong this virus is - are still unknown, Dr Busuttil said.

In a bid to be prepared for the eventuality of a pandemic, the government has ordered a stock of antivirals for 25 per cent of the population, as recommended by the WHO. Antivirals would play an important role in combating the pandemic until a vaccine against the virus is developed. Dr Busuttil said the antivirals had arrived in Malta and were in store.

The authorities, he said, were also trying to increase their order of 500,000 vaccines for the pandemic strain in case people will need to be given two doses. Initially, the government had ordered 350,000 vaccines to cover 90 per cent of the population.

The vaccines will start being manufactured once the WHO identifies the virus causing a pandemic and hands over the seed virus to pharmaceutical companies. Dr Busuttil said Malta should get the vaccine within six months from when the WHO identifies the virus. He explained that if the vaccines arrive in Malta during the pandemic a plan would be put in action to vaccinate people within a week.

Preparations are also underway to increase the number of beds at the intensive therapy unit during a pandemic, while the authorities are looking at other logistical preparations needed for hospitals. Plans are also in hand to increase the storage of oxygen in case more is needed during a pandemic.

People whose work includes rearing or killing poultry will this year be included among the group who can take the vaccine to protect them against seasonal influenza free of charge, he said.

Although thoughts of influenza will probably be relegated to the backs of people's minds in summer, the authorities are planning a national billboards campaign. The next few months will see information about general hygiene, food preparation, the importance of hand washing and of taking the annual jab as well as the need to cover one mouth when sneezing to decrease the chance of spreading airborne infections.

If avian influenza does arrive, billboards will be showing five steps on how to avoid it, while the pandemic preparedness committee will decide when to launch another campaign outlining the difference between avian influenza and a flu pandemic. Other media - including television spots, articles and adverts in the print media and adverts on buses - will be used.

Children are also being informed on how to avoid getting sick with the flu through the distribution of posters and talks in schools.