To avoid an epizooty (epidemic among one or various animal species) or even pandemic (human epidemic to the scale of one or various continents), sanitary autorities have instaured an high level of surveillance and preventive measures (confinement and vaccination of poultries).

Emergency plans have been set up to limit the propagation of infectious focuses : quarantine and preventive slaughter of poultries in the vicinity, interdiction to hunt, control of exportations, recommandations to tourists in high-risk regions ...

Moreover, WHO organizes the financing of pharmaceutical laboratories to develop vaccines against avian influenza. The research moves forward (notably since the Spanish flu) and the first human vaccine has been approved by the FDA. But the difficulties reside in the identification of the future form of the virus and in the duration of production, from 4 to 6 months.