August 25, 2004

WHO Cautions Against Hasty Victory Claims On Bird Flu
 

World Health Organization experts helping Vietnam battle a recurrence of bird flu said governments should be cautious about prematurely announcing they had beaten the disease. The virus has killed 27 people this year.

"A long timeframe is necessary, as even if countries are successful in controlling the disease in their own country, they ought to check the borders with other countries where the disease still exists. There is also the issue of migrating birds," said Peter Horby, a Hanoi-based WHO medical epidemiologist.

Horby was speaking on behalf of a WHO team of three experts. They include two Manila-based staff who are helping the Southeast Asian country investigate the latest outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu, which killed three people this month.

The virus swept across Asia earlier this year, killing 16 people in Vietnam and four in Thailand. The victims were believed to have caught the virus through close contact with sick poultry or their waste.

Horby's warning on Wednesday came after influenza expert Klaus Stohr at the U.N. health agency said bird flu was "endemic" in Asia. The virus was spreading too far and too fast to be easily contained.

Malaysia was the latest country to be affected. But the government said no human cases have emerged despite an outbreak of H5N1 in chickens near the Thai border.

Vietnam came under criticism for declaring that it had eliminated the virus at the end of March. The virus re-emerged in the country in July, confirming experts' views that it would almost certainly reappear.

Last week, the agriculture ministry said Vietnam could be on the verge of declaring itself largely safe from the bird flu virus. This follows after 10 of 11 provinces hit by bird flu had seen no new cases for 21 days up to last Thursday.

The WHO team is expected to provide recommendations to Hanoi on battling the disease.