Prevention

Like the World Health Organization, the federal government and the other Canadian provinces, Québec is getting ready to intervene if the avian flu appears. It has put in place measures aimed at preventing the introduction of the virus in domestic birds as well as surveillance activities for quickly detecting and controlling its presence, if it appears.

- The Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec:

• Has implemented regulations requiring that domestic birds be confined, in order to eliminate contact and the transmission of the influenza virus from wild birds to domestic birds;
• Has implemented tighter biosafety measures for bird farms;
• Is exercising active surveillance over any abnormal situation detected on bird farms thanks to its Bird Alert Network, which is composed of bird farmers and veterinarians;
• Is analyzing all birds submitted to its laboratories for the presence of the influenza virus;
• Has asked veterinarians and inspectors to inspect all bird carcasses sent to slaughterhouses;
• Is participating in the wild bird surveillance program and is monitoring all suspicious wild bird deaths, in conjunction with the Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune;
• Is preparing action plans in order to intervene effectively in times of crisis.

Activities for monitoring influenza in humans are also in progress:

- The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux established some 10 years ago a surveillance system for monitoring seasonal flu activity in the health network on an ongoing basis.
           

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