BBC World appeal to contain bird flu

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>BBC DAILY E-MAIL: UK EDITION

>Wednesday, 28 January, 2004, 9:00 GMT 01:00 -08:00:US/Pacific

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> * World appeal to contain bird flu *

>International agencies say the world only has a

>brief window to stop avian flu becoming a global

>threat to humans.

>Full story:

>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3433509.stm

>

World appeal to contain bird flu

International health and food safety agencies

have appealed to donors for funds and technical

assistance to help stop the spread of bird flu in

Asia.

 

The agencies warned that the disease could become an influenza pandemic.

 

" We have a brief window of opportunity before us

to eliminate that threat, " said Jacques Diouf,

head of the UN's Food and Agriculture

Organization.

 

The appeal comes a day before Thailand hosts an

international conference on ways of containing

the disease.

 

 

The European Union and nearly a dozen

governments, including China and the United

States, are due to attend.

 

There are so far eight confirmed human deaths

from bird flu: two in Thailand, and six in

Vietnam.

 

The outbreak has also affected Japan, South

Korea, Cambodia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Pakistan and

Laos.

 

In other developments:

 

China confirms an outbreak of the virus among its duck population.

 

A six-year-old boy Thai boy dies from the disease.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) urges

Indonesia to begin culling poultry affected by

the virus.

 

Hong Kong imposes a ban on poultry imports from

China, Indonesia, Laos and Pakistan.

 

Pandemic fears

 

There are fears that the bird flu virus could

mutate, attaching itself to a human flu virus

which could spread between people.

 

" The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza

in several areas in Asia is a threat to human

health and a disaster for agricultural

production, " the UN Food and Agriculture

Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for

Animal Health (OIE) and the WHO said in a joint

statement.

 

" Although it has not happened yet, the so-called

'bird flu' presents a risk of evolving into an

efficient and dangerous human pathogen, " the

three agencies warned.

 

" This is a serious global threat to human

health, " said WHO Director General Lee Jong-wook.

 

" This time, we face something we can possibly

control before it reaches global proportions if

we work co-operatively and share needed

resources. We must begin this hard, costly work

now. "

 

FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said farmers

in affected areas urgently needed to kill

infected and exposed animals and " require support

to compensate for such losses " .

 

" The international community has a stake in the

success of these efforts and poorer nations will

need help, " Dr Diouf said.

 

The agencies did not specify how much money was

needed, but the technical assistance included

diagnostic kits and protective gear for workers

involved in the culling.

 

China's silence about bird flu was broken on

Tuesday when the official Xinhua news agency

reported the death of a flock of ducks in the

south-west of the country, bordering Vietnam.

 

There had been mounting speculation about how

China could have been spared from the outbreak

which has been raging through the arc of

countries surrounding it.

 

Thailand was criticised by the European Union on

Monday for " non-transparency " in its dealings

over the outbreak.

 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, faced with

accusations of a cover-up, has admitted his

government initially kept quiet about its

suspicions that avian flu had broken out, to

avoid causing public panic.

 

Thai authorities have mounted a huge operation to

cull all birds in the infected areas - more than

24 million have been destroyed so far.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3433509.stm

 

Published: 2004/01/27 12:09:03 GMT

 

© BBC MMIV

 

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