October 21, 2005

 

China boosts bird flu steps; UN notes migrating fowl risk
 

 

China was considering Friday whether to stockpile anti-flu drugs, as a visiting UN bird flu expert warned that migrating wild fowl appeared more susceptible to the disease than before.

 

China has reported no human cases of bird flu, but scientists said it was a huge incubator for the disease because of its large poultry industry and vast territory.

 

China's latest outbreak of the virulent H5N1 bird flu strain among fowl was reported this week in its Inner Mongolia region, which is in the country's north.

 

As wild birds migrated across national borders, more outbreaks were possible, said David Nabarro, the chief UN coordinator for avian and human influenza.

 

"There has been a shift in the susceptibility of wild fowl to H5N1," Nabarro told reporters. "That's something that needs very careful attention if we're going to be ready for possible introduction of the bird flu virus in other locations through wild fowl," he said.

 

"Countries needed to be ready to respond to outbreaks of bird flu in the proper way: identification, stamping out of the disease at source, and then creation of the necessary exclusion zone to try to stop the disease being spread to other locations," he said.

 

Nabarro has been traveling throughout Asia. He said he was encouraged by the urgency Chinese officials were giving to anti-flu efforts.

 

China said it has set up a nationwide monitoring system, uniting efforts by its ministries of health and agriculture.

 

"It's peak time for the bird flu outbreak. The situation is stark," Vice Premier Hui Liangyu was quoted as saying by the government's China Daily newspaper.

 

China was considering the feasibility of stockpiling the anti-flu drug Tamiflu, which it did not currently produce, the newspaper said.

 

A spokeswoman at Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals Ltd., an arm of Tamiflu producer Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) of Switzerland, said China would need to import the drug.

 

"It is highly unlikely that we can fulfill large Tamiflu orders at short notice," Xu Chao told the China Daily.

 

China has previously been criticised for not sharing information about its disease outbreaks with international scientists, but Nabarro said he had detected no hesitation from his Chinese hosts.

 

"China, along with other nations in this region, is very actively trying to understand where the virus is spreading," he said.