APEC to discuss range of responses to bird flu<\/p>\n
Rod McGuirk, Associated Press\/Canberra<\/p>\n
Asia-Pacific health and disaster officials meeting in Australia
\nnext week will discuss responses to a possible human pandemic of
\nbird flu, including ways to keep critical services running if the
\nlethal virus afflicts populations, an official said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The meeting in the eastern city of Brisbane on Monday and
\nTuesday is expected to be the largest gathering of Asia-Pacific
\nEconomic Cooperation forum members' chief pandemic disaster
\nmanagers, a senior Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and
\nTrade official said on the customary condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
\"The main objective of the meeting is to identify ways in
\nwhich APEC economies can further cooperate on a regional response
\nto avian influenza, and further prepare for a possible human
\npandemic,\" the official told reporters.<\/p>\n
APEC nations agree that the H5N1 bird flu strain, which has
\nleft more than 60 people dead in Asia and killed or caused the
\nculling of millions of poultry in the region since 2003, poses a
\nsignificant threat.<\/p>\n
All 21 APEC member economies have said they will send
\nrepresentatives to the meeting, to be chaired by the Australian
\nambassador to the organization, Doug Chester.<\/p>\n
\"At this stage, we're expecting somewhere around 75 percent of
\nthe APEC economies will have their so-called principal pandemic
\ndisaster management coordinators at the meeting, and there will
\nbe somewhere between 30 and 40 senior health and quarantine
\nofficials from APEC economies,\" the official said.<\/p>\n
Most human cases of bird flu have been linked to direct
\ncontact with sick birds. But officials warn the virus could
\nmutate to a form that can spread easily among humans, possibly
\ntriggering a global pandemic that could kill millions.<\/p>\n
The meeting agenda for Monday will include responses to
\nvarious stages of a pandemic, from localized animal-to-human
\ntransmissions, initial human-to-human transmissions, then
\nwidespread public transmission of the disease.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the meeting will deal with issues such as how to
\nmaintain essential services in the economic, health and transport
\nsectors.<\/p>\n
Any recommendations from the meeting are likely to be on the
\nagenda of the APEC leaders' forum in South Korea in November.<\/p>\n
Among observers at the meeting will be non-APEC members
\nCambodia, Laos and Myanmar, as well as representatives of the 16-
\nnation Pacific Forum, the World Health Organization and the World
\nBank.<\/p>\n
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, attending a Pacific
\nForum in Papua New Guinea, has announced his government will
\nprovide A$8 million (US$6 million) over four years to help
\nPacific states counter threats of bird flu and other infectious
\ndiseases.<\/p>\n
A pair of Australian researchers published a report in the
\nMedical Journal of Australia on Wednesday, warning that the
\ncountry's stockpile of four million courses of influenza drugs
\nwill fall short in the event of a bird flu pandemic.<\/p>\n
\"Australia has an opportunity and a responsibility to promote
\ncompulsory licensing and generic production in the Asian region,\"
\none of the researchers, public health specialist Dr. Buddhi
\nLokuge, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Australia lifted on Wednesday a ban on live bird imports from
\nCanada, imposed after three racing pigeons carrying bird flu
\nantibodies were destroyed in quarantine.<\/p>\n
However, Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said all birds
\nbeing imported to Australia must now be tested for the bird flu
\nvirus and antibodies before being shipped.<\/p>",
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