Ministers, experts convene to prepare for bird flu pandemic<\/p>\n
Beth Duff-Brown, Associated Press\/Ottawa<\/p>\n
Health ministers from around the world who have gathered in the
\nCanadian capital to prepare for a potential influenza pandemic
\nsay the first line of defense is at the poultry farms of
\nSoutheast Asia.<\/p>\n
Health ministers from 30 countries and the heads of the World
\nHealth Organization and UN Food and Agriculture Organization said
\non Monday at the opening of a two-day conference that containing
\nthe avian flu that has hit hardest in Vietnam and Thailand was
\nthe top priority.<\/p>\n
"Our first line of defense should be attacking the problem at
\nthe poultry level," Dr. Alejandro Thiermann, adviser to the
\ndirector general of the World Organization for Animal Health,
\nsaid at the opening session.<\/p>\n
"So far, it is our opinion, that the international community
\nhas drastically underinvested in the veterinary infrastructure
\nrequired to support this vitally important program."<\/p>\n
Officials insisted the obsession with the coveted anti-flu
\nmedication Tamiflu must not overshadow preventing the deadly H5N1
\nstrain of bird flu, which has killed more than 60 Southeast
\nAsians since 2003, from mutating into a human strain that could
\nkill millions worldwide.<\/p>\n
"As the world takes prudent measures to prepare for a major
\nhuman pandemic, greater measures must be taken to stop this
\ndisease, in its tracks, at its source, in animals," said FAO
\nDirector-General Dr. Jacques Diouf. "This is very possible. It
\ncan be done."<\/p>\n
Still, some officials at the conference were discussing
\nwhether they might have to break international patent regulations
\nto produce generic versions of Tamiflu if it came down to saving
\ntheir people. Oseltamivir, sold as Tamiflu, is one of only two
\ndrugs believed to be effective against the dangerous H5N1 strain
\nof avian influenza.<\/p>\n
The H5N1 strain is difficult for humans to contract, but
\nexperts are watching its spread and development for fear it could
\nmutate into a form that could pass easily between people and
\ntrigger a human flu pandemic.<\/p>\n
"A suggestion that's being made by some countries is that
\nthere are countries that have the capacity to manufacture the
\nvaccine, that we actually need to assist them with technology
\ntransfers," said Canada's Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh. He was
\nreferring to India, whose health officials are weighing whether
\nthere is enough risk of bird flu spreading in their impoverished
\nnation to invoke a licensing clause to lift the patent for
\nTamiflu held by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding
\nAG.<\/p>\n
The World Trade Organization in 2003 decided to allow
\ngovernments to override patents during national health crises,
\nalthough no member state has yet invoked the clause.<\/p>\n
"It may not be resolved here; but there are countries out
\nthere that are saying they will defy patent protections -- and we
\ncouldn't be judgmental if people are dying," Dosanjh said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Mexico's health minister Julio Frenk was expected
\nto call on wealthier nations to set aside 10 percent of their
\nstores of antivirals for the developing ones.<\/p>\n
World Health Organization Director General Lee Jong-Wook said
\nsome countries were suggesting that devoting 5 percent of their
\nstores was more in line with reality, but conceded some countries
\nlikely would horde drugs in the face of a true pandemic.<\/p>\n
Lee emphasized the need for transparency and immediate
\nreporting of any cases of avian flu. China was widely criticized
\nin the early stages of the SARS outbreak for not going public
\nwith its cases.<\/p>\n
Diouf said it would take some US$1 billion to make a dent in
\nefforts to bring the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus under control
\nin Southeast Asia, noting that 140 million chickens and ducks had
\nbeen culled, costing those countries $10 billion and devastating
\nrural communities.<\/p>\n
Diouf's organization asked months ago for $100 million to help
\ncontain the poultry outbreaks. So far only the United States has
\ncome forward with $6 million. Other countries have made pledges,
\nbut the money has yet to materialize.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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