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