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■圖為湖北養殖戶為防止爆發禽流感H7N9，正加緊消毒。 資料圖片
浙江省衛生廳昨日（4月3日）通報確診2宗人感染H7N9禽流感病例，其中1人死亡，繼上海、安徽和江蘇後，內地有關H7N9禽流感感染個案增至9宗。香港離華東一帶有一段距離，本地活家禽亦主要由廣東一帶輸入，目前本港大範圍出現H7N9疫潮的可能性不高。不過，禽鳥為H7N9的可能病源，政府須加強支援解決邊境測試H7N9的技術問題，同時加強雞檔商販衛生意識，確保本地街市清潔衛生，防止疫情發生。
香港於1997年爆發H5N1禽流感，當時政府為防範禽流感進一步擴散，即時在全港進行大型宣傳和清潔活動，商販並需每天以消毒藥水清潔雞檔。時隔16年，現時個別街市衛生水平仍需改善，當局需提高市民和家禽商販的防疫意識，確保本地街市清潔衛生，減低禽流感在市面廣泛傳播的機會。
禽流感為內地和香港風土病，香港近年亦多次發現死亡雀鳥帶有禽流感病毒，現階段世界衛生組織仍無針對任何地區發出旅遊警告。面對H7N9的風險，市民須加強防範，但不用過分恐慌，外遊時須注意不要接觸野生禽鳥和野生動物，以保障個人健康。
Step up border checks and ensure hygiene of poultry stalls
The Health Bureau of Zhejiang Province reported on 3 April two confirmed cases of human infection of H7N9 bird flu, of which one person died. Up to that date, together with those reported in Shanghai, Anhui and Jiangsu, the occurrence of H7N9 infection increased to 9 cases in the mainland. There is a considerable geographical distance between Hong Kong and eastern China, and most of the live poultry imported into Hong Kong come from the Guangdong Province. Therefore, the possibility of an H7N9 pandemic in Hong Kong should not be high. However, as birds are possible hosts of H7N9, the government must step up its effort in solving the technical problems of H7N9 checks at the borders, and at the same time, raise the sanitation consciousness among the poultry stall owners to ensure the cleanliness and hygiene in local wet markets so that the occurrence of a pandemic can be prevented.
Hong Kong witnessed an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in 1997. Then the Hong Kong government promptly rolled out large scale education and sanitation campaigns throughout the territory to prevent the disease from spreading any further. Poultry stall owners were required to clean their stalls with sterilizer every day. Sixteen years has gone but the hygienic level of individual wet markets can yet improve. The government needs to raise the awareness of infection prevention among the general public as well as the poultry stall owners, making sure that the local wet markets are clean and the chance of bird flu spreading to the community is low.
Bird flu has become an endemic disease in Hong Kong and on the mainland. In recent years, quite some cases of bird flu virus found on dead birds have been reported in Hong Kong.At this stage, the World Health Organization has not issued any travel warning on any region. In the face of an H7N9 hazard, citizens must strengthen their precautionary measures without panicking unduly. When travelling abroad, care should be taken to protect personal health and not to make contact with wild birds or wild animals.（節自香港《文匯報》2013年4月4日） ■Translation by Tung-ming [ tungming23@gmail.com ]
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