November 14, 2005

 

Threat of bird flu pandemic among top priorities for APEC meeting

 

 

Hundreds of poultry turned up dead at farms on the outskirts of Vietnam's capital. A 20-year-old woman died in Indonesia after being hospitalised with a high fever. Authorities in China ordered every bird found within three kilometres of an infected village to be slaughtered.

 

Almost every day in Asia comes a fresh reminder of the threat posed by bird flu, which experts feared could be the source of a human pandemic that could kill millions.

 

The regularity of reports of new outbreaks and deaths also underscored the difficulties governments faced in stamping out the threat.

 

Only recently have governments and international health officials begun formulating a global response to bird flu, and the effort would be among the top issues at a summit of leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies this week.

 

The H5N1 strain of bird flu, which began ravaging poultry flocks in late 2003, has made its way from Asia to eastern Europe through migrating birds. Bird flu has been found in Turkey, Romania and Russia. Most recently, it was discovered in Kuwait in a migrating flamingo.

 

Last week, health experts and country representatives met in Switzerland at the first major international coordination meeting on bird flu and pandemic human flu, to discuss strategies to tackle the disease.

 

Though the World Health Organization has encouraged nations for nearly a decade to have a pandemic preparedness plan, few did so until the bird flu outbreak across Asia. The issue has been steadily gaining momentum, and this week's APEC meeting would help to cement global concern, said regional WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley.

 

"Out of Geneva came an international commitment to respond to the threat. Now we're looking at the highest possible level of political commitment, and becoming focused on Asian regions," Cordingley said. "We really do believe that the level of political involvement that APEC will provide will propel this forward."

 

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, on Friday and Saturday would bring together leaders including US President George W. Bush, China's Hu Jintao, and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

 

The final declaration was expected to include a commitment to cooperation to develop vaccines, information sharing and other measures to combat bird flu, APEC officials who were working on the document said.

 

This week's talks would also consider the results of a meeting last month of APEC disaster coordinators, who agreed to stage a mock disease outbreak next year to gauge how well countries responded to a major health threat.

 

Experts agreed it was only a matter of time before a human flu pandemic struck. What was unknown was whether the current bird flu virus would ultimately be the source.

 

So far, most of the 64 human deaths attributed to bird flu have been traced back to direct contact with sick poultry. However, the fear was that the virus would mutate into a form transmitted from person-to-person, triggering a pandemic that could kill millions and bring world economies to a standstill.

 

The World Bank has estimated that a global flu outbreak could cost more than US$800 billion in lost gross domestic product over a single year.

 

What was clear was that any coordinated response would take not only political will, but also a lot of money.

 

The World Bank estimated it would cost about US$1 billion over three years to combat the virus in poultry, and help set up pandemic flu plans in countries that did not already have one.

 

Another US$500 million would be needed to develop a pandemic flu vaccine, and scale up drug production and research new medications.

 

Peter Roeder, a Rome-based animal health expert with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, said wealthier nations should step in to help poorer countries with funding, since it would be in the global interest.

 

"I'd like to see a really full understanding that this is a global problem that we're talking about, and the rich world's got to pay for it to protect themselves and there's also an international public good," he said.

 

So far, all the bird flu deaths have occurred in Southeast Asia, in some of its poorest countries. More than two-thirds of the deaths have been in Vietnam, and the remainder in Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. Cambodia is the only non-APEC member.

 

With all the emphasis on fears for human health, Roeder said the root of the problem should not be forgotten - the issue of backyard farms across Asia, where poultry mingled freely with people.

 

"Bird flu will never be prevented if the virus isn't dealt with first on the animal side," he said.