February 5, 2007

 

Asia to face long battle against bird flu: UN official

 

Significantly reducing the risk of deadly bird flu in Southeast Asia (SEA), the region hardest hit by the virus, could take up to a decade, the UN official heading the global fight against avian influenza said.

 

David Nabarro told the Agence France Presse the changing traditional farming practices across the vast region to reduce the risk of a human pandemic emerging would take several years and a huge political commitment.

 

However, he said the virus, which has killed 142 people in SEA and 165 worldwide since its re-emergence in 2003, does not appear to be mutating into a form easily transmissible between humans.

 

But global communities should still stay vigilant as the risk of bird flu casualties in humans remain the same.

 

Scientists fear that the deadly H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, sparking a pandemic which could kill millions.

 

H5N1 has resurfaced in humans in Indonesia--the hardest hit in Southeast Asia--after an apparent lull with five deaths this year, and in poultry outside the region, including, for the first time, in Britain.

 

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu is endemic among poultry in the vast archipelago where chickens are kept in millions of homes. Most human victims had close contact with infected birds.

 

Nabarro said the bird flu situation in the country is quite serious and will take years before it can be finally eliminated. 

 

Awareness of the threat has increased hugely as well as the need for effective responses from government, said Nabarro, who has headed efforts to fight the disease since September 2005.

 

The UN official stresses the need for stronger animal health sector, good veterinary services and an effective response in individual countries particularly in SEA.

Nabarro said the more viruses there are in poultry, the more likely it is that humans will get infected.

 

He added the more viruses in poultry, the more likely is that it will change and probably reach the point where transmission from human to human is possible that could start the potential for an influenza pandemic.

 

But improving biosecurity -- separating humans and animals, improving hygiene and making the public understand the threat of diseases leaping from birds and animals to humans -- is going to take time.

 

Nabarro admits the changes recommended by the United Nation in poultry breeding practices in SEA will take as much as ten years.

 

Richer nations will have to provide up to one billion dollars to help tackle these problems, in particular to end raising poultry in households, a common practice among many poorer families in the region.

 

But the investment should lead to increasing security both in livestock development and also for human health to deal with a whole variety of infections that came from animals and affect humans, Nabarro said.