November 9, 2005

UN expert warns much more money needed against bird flu

A UN agricultural expert said much more money was needed to stop the bird flu virus in poultry worldwide, as Vietnam - the country worst hit by the disease - confirmed its first human death in three months.

The World Health Organization has warned that a deadly human pandemic, possibly triggered by bird flu, could kill millions and cost the global economy US$800 billion in a single year.

Samuel Jutzi, director of animal production and health at the Food and Agriculture Organization, said experience with stamping out bird flu in poultry in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong showed that it was technically possible, but much more funding was needed.

"We just have not spent enough money," Jutzi told The Associated Press in Geneva, speaking on the sidelines of the first major international meeting on the topic.

"It can be contained in domestic birds. It can be eliminated in domestic birds, but at the current level of money, it cannot be contained," Jutzi said.

Jutzi said his agency planned to announce its estimate of how much money it would take to eliminate the virus from the world's poultry stocks at the meeting on Wednesday. The FAO has previously estimated that the cost of upgrading control on small farms in Vietnam alone would be more than US$500 million.

The United States, meanwhile, proposed at the Geneva meeting that WHO immediately convene a small expert group to plan a rapid response in the event of a flu pandemic.

The panel should also draft a plan to close gaps in influenza surveillance, and complete both in time for consideration by WHO's executive board in January, said Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department.