February 13, 2007

UN says recent bird flu outbreaks due to poultry trade

THE United Nations (UN) has called for more vigilance among countries after it observed that recent outbreaks of the dreaded bird flu may have more to do with trade than with the migration of wild birds.

Philippine journal Business Mirror quoted David Nabarro, senior UN System coordinator for avian and human influenza that poultry trade could be responsible for the outbreaks at least in some countries, particularly the United Kingdom (UK).

Nabarro stressed the movement of virus in 2005 was caused by wild bird migration which was evident in northern China and Russia.

But the occurrence of bird flu in UK may have been caused by "part processed poultry" trade from Hungary, notes Nabarro, referring to the UK's Department of Rural Affairs report in its website.

The UN official noted that the current spread of bird flu virus might therefore have more to do with poultry trade than with migration.

Nabarro said that over the last two months, there had been new outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, or avian flu, in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Egypt, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Hungary, the UK and Turkey. Human infections were reported in China, Egypt and Nigeria.

The UN reiterated its earlier call for countries to remain on guard against bird flu as there was still a possibility of a human pandemic developing.

Nabarro said there is a need for a "high-level political commitment" among governments to control the virus and maintain a strong capacity of veterinary and human health services. The UN also said the strong involvement of the private sector and civil society was necessary as were strong communications to the general public.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has earlier cautioned that if left unchecked, the smuggling of farm products may cause the introduction of animal diseases such as bird flu into the country