November 2, 2005

Poultry farmers must be compensated to stop bird flu, WHO said
 

Providing compensation to poultry farmers whose flocks are killed to prevent bird flu's spread will be a key point in next week's meeting of health and government officials, a WHO official said Tuesday.

"Farmers have to cooperate," said Bernardus Ganter, a WHO expert on the deadly flu, after a presentation organized by the Danish International Press Centre. "We can't do anything if we don't have their cooperation."

More than 140 million birds already have been slaughtered to stop the virus's spread, according to WHO.

There have been roughly 3,000 outbreaks among birds since 2003. After starting in Asia, the virus has been spreading among the European bird population, with the latest cases in Croatia.

People now cannot easily contract the virus, but it could mutate so human transmission becomes easier, experts say. The virus in its present form is extremely lethal: 61 of the 121 people who have contracted it-most from handling sick birds-died, Ganter said. The percentage of the population at risk is 25 to 30 percent.

As a result, WHO considers the risk of a pandemic among humans great, and the organization, in cooperation with other institutions such as the World Bank, will convene a meeting in Geneva Nov 7-9 to develop worldwide strategies for controlling the flu's spread in animals and for preparing for a possible pandemic among humans.

Compensation for farmers and "active surveillance of the poultry population is needed," Ganter said.

Without such incentives, poor farmers otherwise might slaughter a sick animal and bring it to market, upping the chances of the virus spreading further, Ganter said. And with each new outbreak the likelihood of the virus mutating increases, he said.

Of WHO's 192 members, only 50 are prepared and most of those are in Europe, he said. That leaves especially vulnerable poor regions of the world such as Africa and Asia, he said.