February 24, 2005
US prepares vaccine for bird flu; world poultry sector set to grow
A top US disease said that the US federal government has prepared a plan to stem possible outbreak of avian flu among humans, although the danger of it is not high.
This even as a UN expert reveals chicken to be the fastest growing meat sector in the world, despite the threat of bird flu looming large and livelihoods of poultry farmers especially in Asia at risk.
On the vaccine plan, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia revealed unpredictable mutations of the virus will be taken into account, as mutations could make transmissions from person-to-person more efficient.
Gerberding acknowledged that the possibility of avian flu killing millions of people is a real one. But preparations are now underway to make sure that the possibility of a human-to-human spread remains slim, a task the CDC is undertaking.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, thinks that although the potential for pandemic is low, the spread in Asia serves as a wake up call. Asian countries have documented 55 cases in which the avian flu has jumped from birds to humans, and only one in which it was passed from human to human. But he said that could change if the virus mutates.
Gerberding is worried as thousands of people in Asia have been exposed to the disease, largely because there are now
"Avian influenza in Asia poses a very significant public health threat," said Dr. Klaus Stohr, with the World Health Organization's global influenza program. "The disease is prevalent in several countries. It has never been so widespread at any time during the last century."
If the airborne virus were to undergo a genetic change making its transmission from person-to-person more efficient, the impact could be global in the jet age, Stohr said, adding that the virus could travel around the world in less than six to eight months.
At present, there is no vaccine to protect people from the strain. Officials at the CDC and WHO say they're sending teams across Asia to monitor the flu strain's advance and have ordered clinical trials of possible vaccines.
The United States already is stockpiling 2 million doses of one vaccine in those trials in the event a pandemic breaks out, Fauci said.
As for growth in world meat consumption, pork leads as the largest animal protein source, but poultry farming is growing exponentially, Dr Samuel Jutzi, Director of Animal Production and Health at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, told AFP at a conference in Vietnam's southern business capital.
In 2000, the world produced 89 mln tons of pig meat, 66 mln tons of poultry and 59 mln tons of beef, Jutzi said.
But poultry's efficiency makes it the most attractive meat source.
'The conversion efficiency of poultry in terms of meat or eggs is highest of all animals,' Jutzi said, adding out that two kilograms of grain fed to poultry yields one kg of meat whereas the ratio is six to one in pigs.
According to the FAO, Southeast Asia, where the bird flu virus has become entrenched in poultry, accounted for approximately a quarter of the world's poultry trade, with China and Thailand as the largest exporters.
The FAO noted that in Vietnam, 'poultry serves as a supplier of high-quality protein to farming families, as well as providing cash income through the sale of meat and eggs.
'Most of the production comes from backyard poultry raised by about eight mln smallholders,' the FAO said in a special report on the avian influenza.
Protecting those smallholders from poverty would be one of the biggest challenges facing authorities as they attempt to reform the industry by centralising production at larger factories, Jutzi said.
'We advise governments to ensure small farmers participate in expanding markets,' so that they do not get alienated in a globalising economy, Jutzi said.
