More bird flu deaths as experts meet on crisis
Jakarta Post
BEIJING (Reuters): Bird flu experts meeting in Beijing said on Tuesday the world urgently needed to amass a war chest to fight bird flu and prepare nations should a pandemic strain emerge.
Underscoring that urgency, Indonesia’s Ministry of Health said a toddler who died on Tuesday was being tested for bird flu days after his 13-year-old sister died of the H5N1 virus, according to local tests. A surviving sister is also being tested.
Turkey said on Monday a fourth person had died of avian flu, as authorities slaughtered tens of thousands of birds to try to contain the outbreak. Neighboring nations feared the virus might spread.
“There is a significant shortfall of funds in many affected countries … which will seriously hamper their prevention and control efforts,” Qiao Zonghuai, Chinese vice foreign minister, told the donors’ conference in Beijing.
“In the fight against avian influenza, no country can stay safe by looking the other way,” he said.Bird flu has killed at least 79 people since 2003 and has now arrived at the gates of Europe and the Middle East.
While difficult for people to catch, nearly 150 people are known to have been infected by H5N1 in six countries, killing more than half its victims, a death rate that reinforced fears about the havoc the virus could wreak if a pandemic occurs.
“It is going more and more towards the western part of the world,” Food and Agriculture Organization Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech told Reuters in Beijing.
“If the mobilization of the funds is not coming immediately, in a couple of months we’ll need more money.”
The World Bank estimates that between US$1.2 billion and $1.4 billion will be needed to prepare for and respond to outbreaks.
The Bank has estimated that a bird flu pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion.
A senior World Health Organization official told delegates the risks from a bird flu pandemic were great.
“Timing is unpredictable and the severity is uncertain,” Margaret Chan, the WHO’s top pandemic expert, told the conference, attended by delegates from 89 countries and more than 20 international organizations.
The Bank approved a $500 million line of credit last week towards the $1.2 billion target and the European Union has pledged $100 million in aid. More significant pledges are expected.
In Indonesia, a health ministry official said the latest local test results on the dead three-year-old boy were not conclusive, although an initial result had earlier shown he was positive for the virus. His 13-year-old sister died of the virus, local testsshow.
H5N1 is already endemic across parts of Asia and has been found in wild birds and poultry over a third of Turkey. Turkish officials said the country had recorded a total of 20 human cases, including the four deaths, in two weeks. (**)