Global threat from bird flu says expert
International cooperation is a key to preventing a bird flu pandemic after efforts to bring it under control failed in Southeast Asia, where the disease has killed at least 60 people, World Health Organisation officials said today.
“I believe that the momentum that is now building up will give us a chance to change the course of history and head off a pandemic caused by the H5N1 virus,” WHO regional director Dr Shigeru Omi said.
“Of course, I have no illusions about the danger the world is in, because we are dealing with a virus that is unpredictable, firmly entrenched and continuing to spread,” he said.
He said some of the world’s richest countries have made commitments to help fight the disease and “one of the biggest coalitions in the history of public health is now taking shape.”
Omi warned, however, that international assistance will be useless if affected countries themselves do not cooperate and show transparency in reporting outbreaks and sharing specimens from infected people and poultry for analysis by other countries and health agencies.
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