SWINE FLU

Panama readies for potential pandemic

Special gates at airport for US and Mexico passengers

MARIJULIA PUJOL LLOYD
mpujolstar@laestrella.com.pa

PANAMA. The Panamanian government has activated a special commission to fight the possible threat of a pandemic of swine flu in the country.

The commission will coordinate efforts between the Health, Agriculture and Government ministries to avoid the spread of swine flu.

Meanwhile the shares of Copa Airlines fell 11 percent, following other airlines down, on worries of reduction in passenger loads as governments issue travel advisories about Mexico, the United States, and Panama.

The Ministry of Health is is strengthening mechanisms to establish more effective epidemiological monitoring of flu cases.

The government has assigned the necessary financial resources to buy anti-viral drugs to be able to face a possible outbreak.

The Minister of Health, Rosario Turner said that prevention measures have been adopted at the Tocumen International Airport.

Flights coming from the United States and Mexico will be received at specials gates which will be controlled by Health Ministry and Immigration Department personnel.

Turner said that the Ministry is coordinating with airlines to implement the requirements that passengers coming from the affected areas will have to comply with.

In the form or sworn declaration passengers coming from affected countries will have to give details of their health and specify if they have any respiratory problems. If that is the case, Ministry of Health personnel will give them medical attention.

Hospitals and clinics will also need to notify any suspicious illnesses to the Ministry of Health. The Epidemiology Department of the Ministry of Health confirmed that there is no known vaccine for swine flu, but that it has enough antiviral drugs to face an onslaught of the illness, if it appears in Panama. The final decisions about the control of the swine flu pandemic will be on the hands of the World Health Organization, which could decide to suspend flights coming from Mexico and the United States to avoid the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry and specifically the National Animal Health Department will intensify the inspection in pigs farms to identify the presence of any suspicious cases of acute respiratory infections among workers or any absenteeism due to respiratory symptoms.

The flu pandemic is worsening in Mexico where the suspected death toll has climbed to 149.

Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova says 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since the first case of swine flu was reported on April 13.

The European Union has urged travellers to cancel non essential trips to the United States and Mexico.

Publicidad