Bird flu is endemic to Asia: FAO

Bird flu is endemic to Asia: FAO

Bloomberg, Singapore

New outbreaks of bird flu in China, Thailand and Vietnam show that the virus, which can spread to humans, is ``still endemic'' to the region, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Saturday.

Thailand and China this week reported their first cases of the disease in poultry in more than three months, while Vietnam cited two outbreaks last week. The disease led to a ban on imports of chicken from affected countries. Thailand and China are the world's fourth- and fifth-biggest poultry exporters.

"After the major outbreaks of a few months ago, affected countries succeeded in bringing the disease under control," said Joseph Domenech, chief of the FAO Animal Health Service in a news release. "The new outbreaks clearly demonstrate that the virus continues to circulate in parts of the region and new cases might flare up in future, posing a continuing threat to human health."

Bird flu is endemic in wild-bird populations, and can spread to domestic flocks and mammals. The virus, known as H5N1, has killed at least 22 people in Asia since October, and led to the cull of more than 100 million fowl earlier this year.

Outbreaks of bird flu that began in China in 1957 and 1968 are each believed to have killed more than 1 million people worldwide. Chinese health officials have acknowledged that the government didn't disclose those outbreaks or try to contain them.

The FAO said it is "very encouraging" that governments have reacted quickly to the latest outbreaks of the virus.

Thailand ordered a chicken cull on an affected farm 50 kilometers north of Bangkok. Today Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he ordered the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to kill all wild storks, which he blamed for the latest outbreaks, Agence France-Presse said.

China said it slaughtered all poultry in a three-kilometer radius of an outbreak in Anhui province. China also suspended poultry exports from the region, according to a statement posted on the Ministry of Commerce Web site. Chinese provinces will stop issuing permits for the sale of live chicken and poultry products from Anhui, the ministry said in the statement.

In Vietnam, health officials sprayed chemicals to decontaminate affected areas, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

"In designing their control strategies governments need to acknowledge that the virus will continue to circulate and that different flu viruses could also be introduced," Domenech said.

"Eradication of the avian flu virus should be considered, at best, as a long-term task."

There are indications the avian flu virus is still present in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the FAO said.