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.