November 9, 2005

Russia to present bird flu proposals at G8 meeting

Russia's chief epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko said the country would present proposals on how to curb the spread of bird flu, during the Group of Eight (G8) meeting in St. Petersburg in July 2006.

Onishchenko also stressed that improving bird flu surveillance systems, and expanding the network of testing laboratories was important.

However, he said the WHO conference in Geneva to develop a global strategy against bird flu, was unlikely to yield any breakthrough solutions.

Onishchenko said a H5N1 bird flu vaccine would be impossible to create until after a pandemic broke out, and the process would require at least 6 months.

While there have been no evidence so far to prove the deadly H5N1 strain could jump from human to human, experts warned the virus could mutate into a more deadly strain that could.