June 1, 2006

Experts say some countries underreporting bird flu

Outbreaks of the deadly strain of bird flu may be underreported in Indonesia and China, and the virus could be more widespread in Africa than authorities know, said experts gathered Wednesday (May 31) for a conference on the disease.

Poor monitoring and lack of compensation mechanisms that encourage farmers to report animal deaths meant that authorities were not always aware of all outbreaks of the H5N1 virus, animal health experts told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day conference in Rome.

The conference--organised by the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)--brought more than 300 scientists and animal experts from 100 countries together in hopes of finding ways to control the spread of the disease and to prepare in case it mutates into a virus that could threaten a human pandemic.

"We think that countries might be underreporting," said Christianne Bruschke, head of the bird flu task force at the Paris-based OIE. "Most of the countries

really see how serious the situation is...but they do not know about all outbreaks in their country."

The vast areas that need to be monitored are a difficult test for countries like China and Indonesia, where veterinary services are already stretched to the limit, Bruschke said.

Slow detection of the virus and the lack of compensation mechanisms for farmers whose poultry are culled could mean the virus may have spread across Africa to more than the eight countries that have so far reported outbreaks, she said.

"In developing countries, where farmers will lose their livelihood, they will make the best economic decision for them. If there is no compensation they will eat or sell the animals."