GENEVA - Swiss health authorities Tuesday recommended that people keep a personal stock of 50 face masks at home as a precaution in case a long-feared deadly flu pandemic occurs.
Thomas Zeltner, head of the federal public health department, said the measure would help avoid a sudden rush on stocks held by pharmacies during a possible outbreak.
The recommendation was among the measures for private households outlined by Swiss public health authorities to deal with a possible pandemic.
"We don't want to create a panic but to encourage the population to take simple and rational measures to avoid being infected in the event of a pandemic," Zeltner told a news conference.
The advice included avoiding handshakes, using paper handkerchiefs when coughing or sneezing and to throw them into bins immediately afterwards, as well as to regularly wash one's hands.
Authorities would decide on the circumstances in which masks must be worn in public in the event of a pandemic, the health office said in a statement.
Vaccination specialist Daniel Koch said masks were likely to be necessary in public transport, railway stations and shops.
If a pandemic flu strain took hold in Switzerland, it was likely to last about 12 weeks, and six weeks in any one town or region, Zeltner said at a press conference.
Switzerland has also ordered eight million doses of a "pre-pandemic" vaccine, as well as reserves of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, which is regarded as a frontline treatment for human cases of the virulent H5N1 bird flu.
The World Health Organisation says the H5N1 strain has infected at least 291 people and killed around 172 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, since the end of 2003.
Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
05/15/2007 16:03 GMT