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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Fully respected procedure during suspected bird flu presence

Belgrade, 29 March 2006

Serbian Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic said today that in cases of repeated suspected infection of people with the bird flu virus in Serbia, hospitalisation and isolation procedures will be consistently implemented.

Author: FoNet

Speaking at a press conference at the occasion of the latest information from the session of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Standing Committee for Europe on the avian influenza and the working group's report on its past and future activities, Milosavljevic said that the relevant people and institutions in Bajina Basta professionally and fully followed the procedure envisaged in the Law on protection of population from contagious diseases, which included admission of the four ill children to hospital in Uzice.

The minister said that if a person from an infected area feels symptoms that point to the presence of the dangerous disease, that person must be isolated and hospitalised in order to be preventively treated with "oseltamivir."

Milosavljevic said that reports by the British Weybridge Laboratory stating that the dead swan and cock found in Bajina Basta were infected with H5N1 virus justified the use of precautionary measures. Otherwise, the responsibility and seriousness of the Serbian health care system would have been put into question.

Director of the Veterinary Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Dejan Knjajic stated that the spread of bird flu among domestic poultry and wild birds in Serbia was prevented thanks to the timely reaction of vets. He pointed out that both the EU and international organisations praised Serbia for the quick reaction.

The minister, who participated at the Copenhagen session of the WHO Standing Committee for Europe, announced that the next annual session of this organisation will be held in September 2007 in Belgrade. He added that it will be the first time in the 60-year long history of the WHO that this important event takes place in Serbia.