"We have never had a chance like this to get prepared before influenza struck," he said, "so this time we should be well able to handle the situation."

Alan W Hampson, the consultant virologist of the World Health Organisation's Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, expressed concern over the bird-flu epidemic in Europe.

"Although there is no evidence that the virus can spread easily from one person to another, the current scenario such as [the infection of a domestic cat] in Germany was also not far for the virus to transmit from human to human," Hampson said.

He was speaking yesterday at a two-day academic meeting in Phuket on influenza epidemics.

He also expressed concern about the outbreaks of bird flu in Africa and India. He said India was a major problem given the size of the country's population.

Scientists, however, fear the H5N1 virus could have much more chance of mutating to suit a human host in Africa, the continent with the largest number of people living with HIV/Aids, he said.

Supamit said Thailand had been very active in terms of preparing for the predicted epidemic largely because the country had been given a wake-up call by the recent incidence of avian flu.

Since approved by the Cabinet in January, the task force has been improving the plan in accordance with the changing situation and will be ready to issue an action plan for all provinces very soon.

Basically, the rehearsal of the provincial action plan will only concern officials such as healthcare workers and administrators; members of the public will be alerted how to behave in the event of an epidemic.

To minimise public panic, Supamit said, the provincial rehearsal of the epidemic action plan has to be carried out in a low-key way.

Public communication is another part of the plan that needs to be perfected, said Professor Emeritus Dr Prasert Thongcharoen, a bird-flu expert and the president of Foundation of Influenza Thailand.

The country needs to prepare the public for an epidemic so everyone will know exactly what to do if it really happens, he said.

Over the past couple of years, Prasert said, the foundation has in collaboration with the Public Health Ministry been preparing only doctors throughout the country through academic meetings and training sessions and not the public.

He said people should be made well aware of the importance of personal hygiene in preventing the spread of influenza, including frequent hand-washing and wearing masks as well as reporting their history of possible exposure to bird flu to doctors when they fall ill.

Arthit Khwankhom

The Nation

Phuket