Avian Influenza Risk Perceptions, Laos

Diagnosis of resistance to chloroquine by Plasmodium vivax: timing of recurrence and whole blood levels. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1997;56:621–6. 9. Pan-American Health Organization. Generic protocol for antimalarial drug-effi cacy studies in the Américas. Effi cacy of chlo-roquine for the treatment of Plasmodium vivax malaria. al. HPLC analysis of anti-malaria agent, chloroquine in blood and tissue from forensic autopsy cases in Tanzania. To the Editor: After the 2004 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian infl uenza (HPAI) in poultry in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), the Ministry of Health implemented extensive virologic surveillance (1,2). Surveillance began in July 2005, and by early 2006, only sporadic cases were found. In July 2006, an outbreak of HPAI was confi rmed on 2 chicken farms in Vientiane, the capital city of Lao PDR (1,3). Most of Laos' ≈20 million chickens are kept on family-owned backyard farms; 3.2 million are on commercial farms (4). This production meets 80% of Lao poultry (chicken, duck, goose, quail) needs; imports from neighboring countries, either through legal trade or cross-border smuggling, account for the rest (3). Common poultry diseases occur frequently during the cold season, and lack of reporting of poultry deaths is of concern (4). Until February 2007, no human cases of infl uenza A (H5N1) had been reported in Lao PDR. To learn more about Laotians' knowledge of HPAI and perceptions of their risk, we conducted a cross-sectional survey. and Hinheub District, both rural) were interviewed in the Lao language by means of a standardized 33-question survey. We recorded information about behavior, poultry handling and keeping practices, and poultry deaths. We used multivariate analysis (Stata, version 8; to analyze the factors associated with behavior changes. Using a random sampling list of visitors and vendors, we interviewed 461 respondents in 4 Vientiane city markets (Vientiane has 114,793 households and 3,700 registered poultry farms) (5). Semiurban respondents were recruited in Oudomxay (40,987 households, 715 poultry farms), an active trading zone near the Chinese border. Rural respondents were recruited from Hinheup District and in Attapeu (19,050 households, 360 poultry farms), near the Vietnam border. Twenty villages were randomly selected , and 10 participants per village were randomly selected for interview. Approval for the investigation was obtained from the health and market authorities. Oral consent for interview was obtained from participants. A total of 842 participants were interviewed (Table). Differences in occupation and literacy were associated with different study areas. …