Asia confronts bird flu crisis

[Guest guest]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3391731.stm

 

Tuesday, 13 January, 2004, 13:14 GMT

 

Asia confronts bird flu crisis

 

The bird flu crisis is affecting the poultry trade across the region.

Asian countries are taking steps to deal with their latest health crisis

after three deaths in Vietnam were confirmed to be linked to bird flu.

Experts are trying to establish if nine other deaths in Vietnam were

caused by the virus and if two sick children also have it.

 

Various countries have announced bans on the import of live birds from

affected areas.

 

And South Korea has confirmed its first case of the virus in birds for a

week.

 

By far the most serious outbreak has been in Vietnam where experts from

the World Health Organization (WHO) have confirmed that the deaths of

two children and an adult were caused by the H5N1 virus, which is the

same as that found in the sick chickens.

 

But at the moment health officials are playing down fears of an epidemic

of bird flu- or avian flu - among humans.

 

" The evidence to date is that there is no sign of human-to-human

transmission, " said Dr. Shigeru Omi, the WHO's regional director for the

Western Pacific in Manila.

 

" However, should this occur, we would have a serious situation. We are

principally worried about the possibility that the avian virus could

acquire full capability to transmit from one person to another, " he

said.

 

Vietnam confirmed it had an outbreak of the illness among chickens last

week and it is thought that around one million birds have died, with

thousands of others being culled to try and prevent the spread of the

disease.

 

Hanoi has appealed for more international help to confront the crisis.

 

More experts from the WHO are on their way to the country as well as an

expert from the World Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

 

" We were officially requested this morning by the Ministry of

Agriculture and Rural Development to help tackle the virus, " said Anton

Rychener, FAO representative in Vietnam.

 

Anxiety

South Korea's announcement of a new case has dashed hopes that the

outbreak there was subsiding.

 

The Agriculture Ministry said the case was found at a farm in Yangsan,

south-east of Seoul, and all chickens within three kilometres of the

area will now be killed.

 

After an outbreak in December, South Korea is thought to have already

culled two million chickens and ducks.

 

It is now thought that over 8,000 chickens have died from an outbreak of

the disease in Japan's Yamaguchi prefecture in the south west of the

country.

 

The prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said that he has ordered the

agriculture minister " not to create anxiety for the people over the

case. "

 

Thailand, meanwhile, has declared itself free of bird flu, but it has

admitted that it is trying to contain the spread of a strain of poultry

cholera, which has forced it to destroy hundreds of thousands of

chickens since November.

 

Imports

The outbreak of bird flu is also affecting trade between the region's

nations.

 

Taiwan has banned all imports of live birds from Japan and Cambodia has

stopped imports from neighbouring countries and sent experts to its

poultry farms.

 

Hong Kong has announced a ban on imports from the three affected

countries.

 

It has also said it would vaccinate all poultry coming into the

territory by the end of this week

 

Hong Kong imports 70,000 live birds a day from mainland China, which has

said that it is free from the disease.

 

Hong Kong was the first place where bird flu was thought to have

transferred to humans, after six people died from the H5N1 virus in 1997

and 1998.

 

 

 

 

--

Dave Neale

Animals Asia Foundation

 

Find out more about the historic China Bear Rescue by visiting the

Animals Asia Foundation website at http://www.animalsasia.org