WHO warns of bird flu pandemic

Chicken and duck vendor prepares chicken for a customer at his stall in
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam - 23/2/05
The virus is usually passed to humans from infected birds
World health officials have issued their strongest warning yet about
the global threat posed by bird flu.

The world is now in the gravest possible danger of a human flu pandemic
triggered by the virus, Dr Shigeru Omi told a conference in Vietnam.

The World Health Organisation fears bird flu may get deadlier if it
mutates into a form that could be easily transmitted between humans.

Thirteen people have died in Vietnam from the virus since December.

Governments need to take quick action to control the virus's spread, Dr
Omi added.


H5N1 BIRD FLU VIRUS
Principally an avian disease, first seen in humans in Hong Kong, 1997
Almost all human cases thought to be contracted from birds
Isolated cases of human-to-human transmission in Hong Kong and Vietnam,
but none confirmed

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Bird flu 'could be contained'

Bird flu is proving resistant to treatments and has appeared in animals
including cats and tigers which had not been considered susceptible to
the virus.

Last year bird flu swept through poultry in a dozen countries and
killed 45 people.

About 140 million birds died or were slaughtered in an effort to
contain the outbreak.

"If the virus becomes highly contagious among humans, the health impact
in terms of deaths and sickness will be enormous," Dr Omi said.

Dr Omi told the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization
conference in Ho Chi Minh City "the world is now in the gravest
possible danger of a pandemic".

Such outbreaks usually occur every 20 to 30 years, he said.

The last one was nearly 40 years ago, so by this measure an outbreak
was overdue.

Duty to help

Dr Omi said avian flu had the potential to kill more people than Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people two
years ago.

He said WHO was calling on governments to develop contingency plans in
case of an outbreak.

However, he added that the virus, also called H5N1, had not yet "gained
the potential for efficient human-to-human transmission" which would
make it far more deadly.

The conference is focusing on controlling the spread of the disease
amongst poultry populations in South Asian countries.

Curbing the disease in this way would also help prevent bird flu
spreading to countries outside the area, delegates said.

Dr Samuel Jutzi, of the Food and Agriculture Organization, told the
conference: "There is an increasing risk of avian influenza spread that
no poultry-keeping country can afford to ignore."

Anti-viral drugs

The WHO has previously called on governments around the world to
stockpile vaccines so they would be prepared should the feared pandemic
occur.

The United States has contracted for 4 million vaccine doses, while
Italy and France anticipate stockpiling 2 million doses each, New
Scientist magazine recently reported.

In the UK, the Department of Health has said it has no plans to
stockpile vaccines, because of the difficulty of designing one in
advance which will act against a mutated virus.

However, it has said it will provide anti-viral drugs to key groups
such as health workers and emergency services.

Delegates at the three-day Vietnam conference heard avian flu was now
entrenched in the bird population of south-east Asia and would probably
persist for many years.

UN officials said it was the common duty of governments around the
world to provide practical support to South East Asia to help tackle
the disease.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4289637.stm