December 5, 2005

Latin American countries formalise bird flu plan

Officials from across Latin America agreed to formalise policies, technical support and regional budgets to jointly fight bird flu during a meeting in Brazil.

A consensus agreement was reached Thursday night in Brasilia, a Brazil Agriculture Ministry spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

Agriculture ministers, health officials and animal-health organisations met with officials from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization for a three-day summit. The meeting focused on how to prevent bird flu from coming to Latin America and what emergency measures would be needed in case of a highly contagious form.

A working group made up of poultry industry representatives, government health and agriculture officials, and financial and research organisations will be formed and run by the Inter-American Committee on Poultry Health. Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said some non-governmental organisations that work to protect wild birds also will be involved, but did not specify which groups or what they would do.

The working group will establish national plans to monitor and prevent bird flu for the entire region.

To avoid unnecessary commercial bans on poultry, officials said they would immediately notify the OIE should the virus be found in any Latin American country.

Brazil's Agriculture Ministry also said countries would adhere to international standards on animal sanitation established by the WTO and OIE.

The H5N1 bird flu strain, considered the most deadly, can kill humans that have come into close contact with birds infected with the virus. It has never been reported in Latin America.