How bird flu can be stopped

SWITZERLAND - Preventing the spread of bird flu to domestic poultry should be feasible, a Swiss expert at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, tells swissinfo.

Samuel Jutzi, director of the FAO's Animal Production and Health Division, advocates the use of vaccination in domestic poultry, under strict conditions, saying its effectiveness has already been demonstrated in some countries.

swissinfo: How effective are the measures we have seen so far - confining poultry to stalls, and limited vaccinating of poultry stocks - likely to be against preventing the spread of bird flu to domestic poultry?

Samuel Jutzi: If confinement of poultry indoors is complemented with the necessary biosecurity measures – making sure that the people handling these animals and the inputs [food and straw] are safe and clean – these poultry establishments can be effectively protected against the virus.

The transition to vaccination which was allowed by the European Commission for certain parts of poultry production in France and the Netherlands is a very sound decision...

It is feasible to push the virus out of domestic poultry, and there are examples of countries which have achieved the elimination of the virus.

For four months we have observed no outbreaks in Vietnam, and there have also been no more human cases during that period.

For more information, please visit our Avian Flu Section

Source: Swissinfo