FLU COULD KILL UP TO 20 MILLION IN EU

September 21, 2004

FLU TO KILL UP TO 20 MILLION IN EU

Posted By: economica

Monday, 20 September 2004, 11:10 a.m.

Disruptions and bio-threats to divert attention from the world economic

demise.

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Europe Could Face Flu Crisis - Health Commissioner (prepared for the deaths

of 10 or 20 million)

AMSTERDAM (Reuters)

Fri Sep 17, 4:25 PM ET

The European Union could face a 21st century flu crisis killing millions of

people if human and animal viruses were to converge, the bloc's health

commissioner warned on Friday........ " With the experience of three flu

pandemics in the last century we could be on the eve of a 21st century

calamity, " Byrne told a conference in The Hague , referring to major

outbreaks in 1918, 1957 and 1968.

" While we have witnessed the deaths of millions of animals in Europe over

the past couple of years, are we prepared for the deaths of 10 or 20 million

of our fellow citizens arising from the mutation of a human and animal virus

that we cannot control? " he asked.

World health officials told the conference on Thursday that the threat of

animal diseases spreading to humans was increasing and governments must

improve coordination to prevent them from becoming pandemic........ The H5N1

strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, which has killed 28 people in Asia

this year, worried officials from the moment it first struck in Hong Kong.

Health experts have said it was just this kind of disease that could jump to

humans and cause a global epidemic, like the 1918 flu that killed as many as

40 million people....... The Netherlands, the first European country to be

hit by a form of bird flu that can infect humans, was forced to slaughter a

quarter of all its poultry after an outbreak last year, which infected 90

people and killed one.......

917/hl_nm/europe_flu_dc

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