Chisinau mayoralty prevents bird flu

Capital mayoralty created a municipal crisis council to prevent and fight bird influenza. Its creation is included in the Special Action Program, destined to control the situation of municipality Chisinau. The program refers to 4 periods: pre-epidemic, epidemic alert, epidemic period and post-epidemic period. There are foreseen for the first period prophylaxis activities of bird flu, monitoring death rate in human flu and serious infections of respiratory system cases, fighting flu cases, including ensuring primary medical assistance, ensuring emergency assistance, hospitalization rooms; creating drug and sanitary materials stocks in hospitals, family doctors centers and health centers; vaccination of categories with increased illness risk, drafting and implementing action plans in the regions in case of bird flu among animals and birds, supervising selling poultry and eggs in agricultural markets, liquidating homeless dogs and cats out of the markets, and settling cremation places, etc. During the period of epidemic alert it is foreseen to ensure the activity of municipal system of monitoring medical assistance, monitoring persons who travel to or out the areas where a new type of avian virus could be isolated, spreading vaccines and ensuring maximum vaccine coverage within risk groups, planning to increase of the number of medical employees, number of blankets in the hospitals, stocking sufficient drugs for treatment, ensuring transportation etc. For epidemic period there are foreseen such measures as evaluating the efficiency of intervention measures and the necessity of a national support in crisis situations, implementing restrictions in order to reduce flu spreading, information activities of the population on current situation through mass media, etc. In post-epidemic period it is foreseen a retrospective analysis of death caused by avian flu, as well as the evaluation of the efficiency of intervention in fighting bird flu. Appeared at the end of 2003 in Asia, bird flu already killed 108 persons and is continuously spreading, almost in all Europe and attacked Africa.