AMA President Discusses Bird Flu on ABC Radio

That of course follows the news that it's already been found in Turkey and Romania.

Authorities in Greece are still conducting tests to establish whether it actually is the same deadly strain of the virus, which is known as the H5N1 strain that's killed more than 60 people in Asia.

If it is, it would be the first case of a bird with the virus in the European Union.

This of course has come at the same time as it's been announced by a pharmaceuticals company that they have - GlaxoSmithKline has decided to dust off the mothballed factory in Victoria to start manufacturing Relenza, one of the two effective vaccines against bird flu.

So just how prepared are we here in Australia? Are you worried? Has this latest development got you nervous, and what are your thoughts? 1300 222 702.

Joining me now to talk about this is Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, President of the AMA - the Australian Medical Association, of course - who has just returned from a meeting in Chile, discussing this issue of bird flu with other health professionals.

Good morning.

DR HAIKERWAL: Good morning. How are you?

McKENZIE: Well thanks. What's the mood at the meeting with other international, I guess, delegates?

HAIKERWAL: Well, the meeting in Chile was of the World Medical Association. So it's a get together of all the medical associations from 40 countries. And the moods are very similar, and that's one of feeling that we, you know, we need to work with our governments in each of our countries. You know, those governments need to work very closely with the physicians in terms of planning.

And there is some learning from previous outbreaks of things like SARS that could be used in the way that we handle things, and when I compare what we're doing in Australia with others, I think we're doing quite well.

We've got a very good overarching plan where the government, Commonwealth Government, is working with State Governments to look at how to plan for and make sure that there is an effective set of processes at a governmental level.

But I think where we are falling down, just like all the other countries, is that involvement of the people at the ground level - at the community level - the doctors, the GPs, emergency departments - and to involve them properly in terms of good information, timely information, being able to identify where the cases are occurring. If it actually does start becoming a pandemic, then you need to take different steps, and that needs to be worked out.

So there are a whole lot of things that need to be done at community level, that could still be done better. But generally we're going about it in the right sort of way.

McKENZIE: Do you think that there is a mood in the community, here at home, where people are starting to get a little bit nervous?

HAIKERWAL: I think people are getting nervous, and I think because they've been bombarded by messages that are I suppose sometimes irresponsible.

I mean, yes, we've got, we understand that at any time - and it could even be now; it could have been last year, or next year, or the next five or ten years - a strain of flu will come out and cause a significant amount of grief because it will become so virulent.

And of course flu is a very nasty virus that can change its spots, and of course therefore is very difficult to make a vaccine against. And that's why every year people have a flu vaccine against certain strains that are potentially dangerous that year. So, some of that's been done already.

If this avian flu flicks across from the bird community and starts affecting humans, and goes from human to human, then there's a potential it could be quite serious and sinister.

So people have a reason to be worried, and certainly the main authorities - the WHO and people like our own Health Department and health departments across the world - are planning for this potential.

And of course they're worried about something like the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, which was very devastating. And of course that happened at a time of poverty - it was just after the war - we weren't quite as well catered for in terms of nutrition status, and of course the medical facilities weren't as good as they are now.

So, we can support people now much better than we could, with illnesses. And then of course there's the new tablets there, which you're going on about.

McKENZIE: Yeah, with the tablets, do you know whether there's been a bit of a rush on pharmacies; people wanting to, you know, make their own little stockpiles, and is that possible?

HAIKERWAL: Well, I mean, obviously it's a tablet that's fairly costly - it costs about $50 to $60 for a week's supply for treating yourself if you've got an influenza.

It's something we have been using over the last few years, since it's been introduced - both the tablet and the spray - and it works quite well.

I mean, the problem of course is that there is not very much of it around because the supply is not keeping up with demand. It's being bought up left right and centre by governments, obviously, to stockpile, which is very reasonable.

At this stage, we certainly don't believe people need to be buying it for themselves, unless they're travelling to a dangerous area, like in South East Asia.

McKENZIE: Yes, but what's a dangerous area now? Now that we've had reports, I guess, of the European Union also being affected?

HAIKERWAL: Yeah, well that's right. I mean, it's an ever-changing feast really isn't it, and I think that we do need to be more cautious.

But the point is that it's important that it's not used all the time and people don't think it's the only solution, the only thing we have to do.

There's been a lot of concentration on this, and there are other things we need to think about. We need to think about the vaccines that are, we've already given people for the season, which will help, although not against this specific virus, which we don't actually know what we're - you know, we're jumping at a shadow there - because we don't know what virus we're needing to protect against just now. It could be an avian flu, but it may not be.

McKENZIE: Right.

HAIKERWAL: So there's a lot of things out there that we need to take into account, and I think we, you know, the part of the plan is to make people more comfortable about what's been happening, what arrangements are there - keeping away from work if you're unwell; keeping away from crowds if you're unwell; and obviously getting treatment early.

McKENZIE: My guest is Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, the President of the AMA.