Asia-Pacific countries discuss bird flu disaster plan

Asia-Pacific countries discuss bird flu disaster plan

Agencies
Brisbane/Kigali, Rwanda

Ministers attending an Asia-Pacific conference on avian flu said
on Monday border closures were an option in the event of a
pandemic, but said this was only a remote possibility.

"Borders and airports could of course be shut down in the last
phase of a pandemic," said Vietnamese Vice Minister of
Agriculture Bui Ba Bong, on the sidelines of a meeting of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. "But that is not
the situation we are facing at the moment."

His comments were echoed by Australian Foreign Affairs
Minister Alexander Downer, who cited medical experts as saying
there was only a 10 percent chance that bird flu would mutate
into a virus transmittable from human to human.

The H5N1 avian influenza is still primarily a bird disease,
but it has infected 121 people and killed 62 since 2003, while
tens of millions of birds have died of infection or been culled.

Principal pandemic and disaster management officials from all
21 APEC economies are attending the forum in Brisbane to discuss
regional responses to any outbreak of the disease.

Cambodia's Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, Prak Thaveak Amida said controlling the spread of
avian flu across borders was central to his country's disaster
planning, given the disease is "at Cambodia's front gate" after
incidents in neighboring Thailand and Vietnam.

Downer insisted any cover-up of avian flu outbreaks would be a
"true human catastrophe" given that speedy identification of
cases is the greatest challenge facing the international
community, but he was confident APEC was focussed after Monday's
"promising stocktake" of preparedness.

"You don't learn to dance on the day of the party," agreed
Doug Steadman of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. "You have
to practice, and that's what we're doing here to make sure we
have the plans and that we can implement them effectively."

Steadman is drawing on Canada's first-hand experience of SARS
and avian flu in recent years to instruct delegates about the
importance of a water-tight plan, particularly as "there is still
time for prevention before a pandemic".

The meeting comes as the Australian Medical Association (AMA)
said regional bird flu planning should be based on information
and preparedness and not on fear and panic.

"People need to be able to get on with their lives without the
prospect of some sort of ornithological Armageddon creating fear
in the community," AMA president Dr. Mukesh Haikerwal said in a
statement on Monday.

"People need to understand that the present avian flu virus
cannot cause a pandemic because it is barely infectious to
humans. You have to work very hard to catch it," he said, adding
that early warning systems to detect and identify the disease and
to monitor its progress were essential.

In a related development, agriculture officials from 53
African countries began discussions on Monday on ways of dealing
with avian flu as migratory birds that are believed to have
brought the deadly strain of the disease to Europe are headed to
Africa.

The conference -- which will later bring together agriculture
ministers from at least 22 countries -- was originally meant to
focus on fighting trans-border animal diseases, but organizers
have now shifted attention to the looming bird flu crisis.

Experts worry that bird flu outbreaks in Africa, with its
strained infrastructure, are likely to be poorly reported and
poorly managed. Health officials want to keep a close eye on
H5N1, fearing it could mutate into a virus that can be passed
easily to and between humans and trigger a deadly global human
flu epidemic.

The meeting of agriculture officials in Rwanda's capital,
Kigali, "is timely considering the current outbreak of avian
influenza ... with great potentials of causing high mortality
among poultry -- which is one of the biggest sources of income in
rural areas -- as well as death to human beings," said Rosebud
Kurwijila, African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and
Agriculture.

"This is a big challenge of our day, but I do believe that
with political will by member states coupled with resource
mobilization and support from our development partners, we will
succeed," Kurwijila said.

Countries in eastern, western, central and southern Africa
have banned imports of live and wild birds as well as bird
products in an effort to control the possible spread of the
infection.