Bird flu poses serious global human health threat: Agencies
Agencies, Bangkok
Thailand on Wednesday is scheduled to host crisis talks on the unprecedented bird flu outbreak which has spread to 10 Asian nations, claimed the lives of at least eight people, six in Vietnam and two in Thailand, and led to the slaughter or death of up to 20 million chickens across the region.
Meanwhile, three international health and agricultural safety agencies warned on Tuesday that the outbreak was a serious global threat for human health, and appealed for assistance to tackle the virus.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said he was confident that the half-day talks on the crisis would help restore confidence.
"As the participants will listen to each other and exchange information, and due to the fact that we have already carried out measures which are up to international standards, I think that we can regain confidence," he said.
Ministers and senior officials from agriculture and health ministries in crisis-hit countries, as well as other regional nations that have, so far, escaped the disease, have also been invited to attend. The United States, the European Union, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have also said they will send representatives.
WHO, FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said in a joint statement that the spread of the highly pathogenic virus was a "significant control challenge".
The agencies say that bird flu could set off an epidemic worse than severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a new infectious disease, which also jumped the species barrier last year. SARS infected more than 8,000 people in nearly 30 countries and killed nearly 800 people.
"This is a serious global threat to human health," said Lee Jong-Wook, director-general of the WHO.
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said: "This will represent a huge cost, especially to struggling economies and small farmers. The international community has a stake in the success of these efforts and poorer nations will need help."
The flu has leapfrogged through Cambodia, Japan, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
China confirmed on Thursday it had found bird flu in ducks discovered dead on a southern farm, but the government emphasized that the virus sweeping Asia had not been found in humans. Authorities also said two other provinces in central China had "suspect" cases of dead poultry believed to be bird flu.
In the meantime, Japan will stop imports of poultry from China due to an outbreak of bird flu there, Kyodo news agency quoted the Farm Ministry as saying on Tuesday. Imports from Thailand, Brazil and China usually each account for about one-third of Japan's imports of chicken.
Vietnam said Tuesday that 28 of the country's 64 provinces and cities were tackling bird flu outbreaks but warned that the virus, which has killed at least six people there could spread even further.
"So far 28 have bird flu, but we are afraid that we will have a new figure each day," said Dau Ngoc Hao, deputy director of the veterinarian department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.