U.N. Experts Seek to Stop Bird Flu Fears

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U.N. Experts Seek to Stop Bird Flu Fears

U.N. Experts Seek to Dampen Fears That Bird Flu Has

Spread to Pigs in Vietnam

 

The Associated Press

 

ROME Feb. 6 & #12539;U.N. experts sought to dampen

fears Friday that bird flu had spread to another

species after tests found the virus in the snouts of

pigs in Vietnam. Two more people died of the disease,

bringing the human death toll to 18.

 

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the

results do not necessarily mean the pigs are infected.

The tests nasal swabs may merely be confirming the

presence of infected chicken droppings on their

snouts. Swine are often housed with poultry in

traditional family farms in Asia.

 

Rigorous tests look for the virus or antibodies in

the blood, the agency said.

 

Even if the pigs were infected, that would still not

be cause for alarm, said Peter Roeder, a veterinary

virologist and animal health expert at FAO

headquarters in Rome. Experts have known for years

that pigs can get bird flu.

 

" The issue is whether they are important in the

propagation and transmission of this epidemic, " Roeder

said. " There's absolutely no evidence that this is so

at the moment. "

 

" Let's not be alarmist. Let's just deal with things as

they evolve, " he said.

 

A Vietnam representative of the U.N. Food and

Agriculture Organization announced the test results

early Friday in Hanoi.

 

Bird flu has ravaged poultry farms across Asia and is

continuing to spread. More than 50 million chickens

have been slaughtered to stem the spread of the

disease. Ten governments are battling outbreaks.

 

China was investigating mysterious reports of finches

dropping dead from the sky, and villagers in Indonesia

sprinkled thousands of birds with holy water and then

set them ablaze as they tried to rid the resort island

of Bali of the deadly disease.

 

Vietnam announced the deaths of a 6-year-old girl from

southern Dong Nai province and a 24-year-old man from

central Lam Dong province, raising the total in that

country to 13. Five people have died from the virus in

Thailand.

 

Most human cases have been traced to direct contact

with infected chickens. However, experts have said

it's possible the virus can jump to humans through

another mammal, such as pigs.

 

" Right now, there is no justification for saying there

is H5N1 virus infection in pigs in Vietnam, " Roeder

said, referring to the lethal strain of avian

influenza plaguing poultry across Asia.

 

Experts say that despite a handful of human

infections, there is no sign that the virus is

changing into one that could spread widely among

people. However, they are watching it closely.

 

There are two ways the virus could become a danger to

humans.

 

It could gradually accumulate enough genetic mutations

to become efficient at spreading among humans, or more

rapidly it could combine with a normal human flu

strain and create a potent hybrid that has the

deadliness of the bird strain and the contagiousness

of a regular human flu strain.

 

Properly cooked chicken meat or eggs is not dangerous

because the virus is killed by heat, but governments

worldwide have slapped affected countries with bans on

imports ranging from live poultry a disease risk to

cooked poultry products which experts say pose no

risk.

 

Vietnam this week banned all poultry sales.

 

Governments fighting the scourge are Thailand, China,

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, South

Korea, Pakistan and Taiwan. The strain afflicting

Pakistan and Taiwan, however, is milder and not

considered dangerous to humans.

 

photo credit and caption: A woman vendor peers out

behind an empty chicken cage at a deserted poultry

market in Shanghai, China, Friday, Feb. 6, 2004.

Shanghai has ordered the closure of all markets

selling live poultry as a safeguard against the spread

of the bird virus that has been detected on the city's

outskirts and in nearly a dozen other regions in

China. (AP Photo/Str)

 

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights

reserved. This material may not be published,

broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

 

 

 

 

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