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WHO and CDC continue to recommend that travelers to areas experiencing outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 in poultry should avoid contact with live animal markets and poultry farms. Large amounts of the virus are known to be excreted in the droppings from infected birds. Populations in affected countries are advised to avoid contact with dead migratory birds or wild birds showing signs of disease.
Direct contact with infected poultry, or surfaces and objects contaminated by their droppings, is considered the main route of human infection. Exposure risk is considered highest during slaughter, defeathering, butchering, and preparation of poultry for cooking. There is no evidence that properly cooked poultry or poultry products can be a source of infection.
The CDC Travel Health Precautions outline specific measures for travelers to take before, during, and after travel. Suggested actions include:
Before any international travel to an affected area
- Visit CDC's Travelers' Health in Southeast Asia to educate yourself and others who may be traveling with you about any disease risks and CDC health recommendations for international travel in areas you plan to visit. For a list of affected areas and other information about avian influenza, see the CDC website.
- Be sure you are up to date with all your vaccinations, and see your doctor or health-care provider, ideally 4-6 weeks before travel, to get any additional vaccination medications or information you may need. Currently there is no inoculation or vaccination to prevent contracting H5N1 avian influenza.
- Assemble a travel health kit containing basic first aid and medical supplies. Be sure to include a thermometer and alcohol-based hand gel for hand hygiene. See the Travelers Health Kit in "Health Information for International Travel" for other suggested items.
- Identify in-country health-care resources in advance of your trip.
During travel to an affected area
- Read CDC's Guidance for U.S. Citizens Living Abroad.
- Avoid all direct contact with poultry, including touching well-appearing, sick, or dead chickens and ducks. Avoid places such as poultry farms and bird markets where live poultry are raised or kept, and avoid handling surfaces contaminated with poultry feces or secretions.
- As with other infectious illnesses, one of the most important preventive practices is careful and frequent hand washing. Cleaning your hands often with soap and water removes potentially infectious material from your skin and helps prevent disease transmission. Waterless alcohol-based hand gels may be used when soap is not available and hands are not visibly soiled.
- Influenza viruses are destroyed by heat; therefore, as a precaution, all foods from poultry, including eggs and poultry blood, should be thoroughly cooked.
- If you become sick with symptoms such as a fever, difficulty breathing, or cough, or with any illness that requires prompt medical attention, please contact your overseas resident director or on-site contact person at your host university and the MU International Center.
After your return
- Monitor your health for 10 days.
- If you become ill with fever and develop a cough or difficulty breathing or if you develop any illness during this 10-day period, consult a health-care provider. Before you visit a health-care setting, tell the provider the following:
a. your symptoms
b. where you traveled
c. if you have had direct contact with poultry.
This way, he or she can be aware that you have traveled to an area reporting avian influenza.
For more information about H5N1 infections in humans, visit the World Health Organization avian influenza website and the CDC avian influenza site.
The CDC's health recommendations for international travel to Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, are provided on the Travelers' Health website.
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