Suspected cases of bird flu in humans must be reported within two hours under a surveillance system activated on the mainland yesterday.
The deadline for township health officials to report cases to county governments was issued by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday. Those in rural areas have six hours to report cases and counties must pass on the reports to provincial authorities within two hours.
Provincial health authorities have to form an expert team to examine the suspect patients within 12 hours of receiving such reports. The ministry is committed to sending a national-level expert team to examine a patient within 24 hours of provinces reporting a suspected case. The ministry wants updates on patients' conditions by 10am each day.
Any patient with fever, a cough and a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius, who has been in contact with poultry in the seven days before falling ill, should be placed under close surveillance, it said.
It also issued guidance to doctors about human H5N1 infection and how to diagnose cases.
The document says children under 12 are more suspectible than others. It says H5N1 can survive in water for a month.
