Bird flu needs fast, transparent response<\/p>\n
Darren Schuettler, Reuters\/Bangkok<\/p>\n
Governments must work harder, faster and be more open if they are
\nto prepare for a bird flu pandemic, U.S. Health Secretary Michael
\nLeavitt said on Monday as he began a tour of Southeast Asian
\nnations hit by the virus.<\/p>\n
\"Three times in this century we have experienced pandemic
\ninfluenza and they will come again. We must be ready,\" Leavitt
\nsaid in Bangkok on the first leg of his week-long trip.<\/p>\n
\"Our preparations are not yet complete nor are they adequate,\"
\nsaid Leavitt, who is in the region to urge cooperation in
\ncontaining the disease which has killed more than 60 people in
\nAsia since it arrived in late 2003.<\/p>\n
Experts have been saying since then that the H5N1 avian
\ninfluenza is the world's top health threat, but policy efforts in
\nthe United States to battle the virus have reached a peak only in
\nrecent weeks.<\/p>\n
Leavitt, leading a group of top bird flu experts from UN and
\nU.S. agencies, will also visit Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, the
\ncountry hardest hit by H5N1 with 41 deaths.<\/p>\n
Leavitt may also visit Indonesia where four people have died
\nfrom it since July.<\/p>\n
The WHO has urged nations in the region to draw up pandemic
\npreparedness plans and stockpile antiviral drugs known to reduce
\nthe effects of avian influenza. But experts say impoverished
\nCambodia and Laos will need help.<\/p>\n
Leavitt did not promise any additional funds to the US$25
\nmillion Washington has pledged to Asia's bird flu fight.<\/p>\n
He said the best defense against the disease was to find it
\nquickly and contain it. \"That requires all of us to act in a way
\nthat is both transparent and cooperative.\"<\/p>\n
Transparency is a key issue in Asia's war against bird flu
\nwhich has also killed 12 Thais and four Cambodians and ravaged
\npoultry flocks across the region.<\/p>\n
Some nations have been accused of blocking proper monitoring
\nof the deadly virus by failing to report cases or giving too few
\nsamples to scientists.<\/p>\n
Experts fear H5N1 could mutate into a virus which spreads
\neasily among humans, creating a pandemic that might kill
\nmillions.<\/p>\n
As scientists work on a vaccine, they need to know about new
\noutbreaks to see if the virus is evolving, said Anthony Fauci,
\nDirector of the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and
\nInfectious Disease, who is accompanying Leavitt.<\/p>\n
\"If there are new cases that are occurring and we don't know
\nabout them, then it's very difficult to request the samples,\"
\nFauci told reporters.<\/p>\n
A vaccine, when it becomes available, could help contain a
\nhuman pandemic if it emerged in one of the front-line states in
\nSoutheast Asia. The problem is producing enough to meet the need.<\/p>\n
\"We don't even have enough right now to handle a situation in
\nthe United States,\" Fauci said.<\/p>\n
\"Supply and production capability needs to be addressed before
\nwe can even think about deploying samples in distant areas that
\nmight have an outbreak.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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