April 3, 2007

FAO: Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria seen unable to control bird flu spread

Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria might be unable to prevent the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu from spreading to other nations, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Monday.

In a statement to Reuters, FAO said the risk of a pandemic remains as the three countries have not been able to fully control the disease, making them virus reservoirs from which the disease could spread to other countries. The FAO also called for stronger international cooperation against bird flu. 

Indonesia has the highest human death toll due to bird flu in the world at 71 fatalities, after the disease claimed five more lives last week.

Only three out of 33 Indonesian provinces are bird flu-free, and the disease remains endemic in Java, Sumatra, Bali and South Sulawesi, FAO said. The country's large land area, inadequate domestic veterinary service and lack of resources have posed a considerable challenge to efforts in controlling bird flu.

FAO added that its village-based disease surveillance in Indonesia needs expansion to ensure full information regarding outbreaks across the country.

Egypt has the highest number of human bird flu reports outside Asia at 32 infections, including recent cases of a four-year-old girl from Qalyoubia province, a 4-year-old boy from Qena province, and a 7-year-old boy from Sohag province. Egypt has seen 13 human fatalities since 2006.    

The UN organisation attributed the problems of controlling bird flu in Egypt to the lack of compensation to farmers for culling their poultry.

In Nigeria, authorities have failed to restrict transport of poultry and poultry products out of infected areas, FAO commented.

Meanwhile, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have indicated their desire to produce bird flu vaccines to reduce dependency on US and European suppliers should a pandemic occur, said WHO Director-general Margaret Chan.

Chan added that all three countries would need to find partners with the relevant technological expertise in order to start their own production.