The Lao government has issued strict guidelines for all sectors to follow, aiming at preventing further outbreaks of bird flu. The new regulations call for, among other things, strict inspection of imported poultry as well as those raised in farms in areas that were previously affected by bird flu.
The guidelines say imported poultry must be certified by health officials, and birds raised in border farms that are not certified must be destroyed. Communities where over 40% of their poultry died unusually must have the rest of their birds culled and are forbidden to cook the dead birds for consumption. Citizens are urged to report quickly any unusual deaths among poultry in their community.
In conjunction with the issuance of the new guidelines, seminars were set up to raise awareness of the danger of the Avian flu and to teach concerned employees how to detect, cope and respond quiclkly to various bird flu emergencies.
Officials say all responses, information and data related to the scenarios created will be compiled and published in a handbook to be distributed throughout the country to improve the people's readiness in fighting bird flu.
Laos has been struck with four outbreaks of bird flu since 2004, resulting in two human deaths.
Listen to our Laos Today report for more details in Lao.