U.S. health expert: Flu pandemic is like an earthquake, could strike any time
- From: "Chim" <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 4 Apr 2006 08:47:06 -0700
Updated:2006-04-04 09:28:00
U.S. health expert: Flu pandemic is like an earthquake, could strike
any time
By MARGIE MASON
ap
BEIJING (AP) - The U.N.'s bird flu point man said Tuesday some of the
US$1.9 billion pledged in January for bird flu and pandemic
preparedness has started to reach countries hit hard by the virus.
"A lot of that money is now being spent in Indonesia, Vietnam,
Cambodia, countries in central and eastern Europe, Turkey, Nigeria and
Central Asia," said Dr. David Nabarro, the U.N.'s chief coordinator for
avian influenza, at a press conference.
Beijing was Nabarro's first stop on a regional tour that includes Laos,
Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia - countries where the H5N1 virus has
been rampant in the poultry stock.
He met with Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who heads the country's
bird flu command center, along with officials from the ministries of
health and agriculture and said China's cooperation with the world is
essential to controlling the spread of the H5N1 virus.
"During the last three months globally, there has been an enormous and
rapid spread of H5N1," he said. "This is a really serious global
situation."
In that time period, 30 countries in Africa, Europe, the Indian
subcontinent and the Middle East have reported infections in birds in
their territories, he said. That rapid acceleration compares with the
previous two and half years, when only 15 countries reported H5N1.
Nabarro said the World Bank recently signed off on a US$50 million loan
for Nigeria to battle bird flu. Bank official Jacques Baudouy said
earlier Tuesday that the funding came from money earmarked for the
disease prior to the US$1.9 billion pledge from international donors.
Meanwhile, a U.S. health expert attending an unrelated Beijing health
conference said there must be more infectious disease research in Asian
countries, and scientists need to more closely track changes in the
H5N1 bird flu virus to prepare for a potential pandemic.
"I think of it as the earthquake in San Francisco, you know it's on the
fault. You know it's going to occur but you can't tell if it's going to
occur this year or next year or the year after," said Dr. Roger Glass,
the new director of the Fogarty International Center at the U.S.
National Institutes of Health.
"But it's clearly going to happen and the only way you can prepare is
to build your houses with structure," he said on the sidelines of a
four-day conference launching the Disease Control Priorities Project,
which includes three books focusing on cost-effective strategies for
improving global health.
The World Health Organization's China representative, Dr. Henk Bekedam,
urged governments on Tuesday to support each other in the fight against
bird flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome and other emerging
infectious diseases that pose global threats.
"With infectious diseases, we are only as strong as our weakest link,"
Bekedam told Asia-Pacific officials at the start of a separate
international conference on new infectious diseases.
"If you do a good job over there, but if your neighboring country is
not able to detect (disease), you're still not safe. We need to support
each other," he said.
Bird flu, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, has killed at least 108
people. It remains hard for humans to catch, but health experts fear it
will mutate into a form easily spread among people, potentially
sparking a pandemic.
Associated Press Writer Tini Tran contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the
AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated
Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
04/04/06 09:26 EDT
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