The Hindu : International : Bird flu is global threat, says European Union

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

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International

Bird flu is global threat, says European Union

Continent ill prepared to deal with pandemic

LUXEMBOURG: The European Union on Tuesday declared the spread of bird flu from Asia into the E.U. a ``global threat'' requiring international cooperation, saying western Europe is ill prepared to deal with an influenza emergency.

E.U. Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said most of the 25 E.U. Governments lack sufficient stocks of anti-viral drugs designed to boost resistance to the common flu of such risk groups as the elderly, the young, diabetics and others.

He said the E.U. was working on a deal with the pharmaceutical industry whereby Governments would ``increase vaccination for seasonal flu ... and the industry will invest more to build up manufacturing capacity''.

Disease spreading

``We have not reached the level of [vaccination] preparedness that we should have,'' Mr. Kyprianou told reporters after updating the Foreign Ministers on the westward spreading of bird flu.

The World Health Organization has said though the arrival of the virus in a new location is worrying — because more virus means more opportunities for genetic mutations — it does not mean a human flu pandemic is closer.

Isolated outbreaks that are swiftly controlled pose a minor threat compared with prolonged outbreaks where birds continue to mix with people, as in Asia.

The E.U. Health Ministers, meeting on Thursday and Friday outside London, will discuss national flu preparedness programmes, including the availability of anti-viral drugs across western Europe.

After meeting the Foreign Ministers, Mr. Kyrprianou said the E.U. would shortly stage a ``command post exercise'' to test national preparedness plans.

In a statement, the Ministers underlined the seriousness of bird flu and the threat it posed to animal and public health. They called ``for an international coordinated response.''

The H5N1 bird flu strain has swept poultry populations in large swathes of Asia since 2003, jumping to humans and killing at least 61 persons — more than 40 of them in Vietnam — and resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds.

No vaccine

There is no human vaccine for the current strain of bird flu, but scientists believe the Tamiflu drug may help humans fight bird flu contraction.

Bird flu's westward move is caused by migrating wild fowl.

It has intensified fears in Europe the virus may mutate into one that can be easily transmitted among humans — a development that experts fear could provoke a global epidemic that puts millions of lives at risk.

The E.U. stepped up biosecurity measures and installed early detection systems along the migratory paths of birds to prevent contamination of domestic flocks.

The E.U. Foreign Ministers stressed the need for the E.U. to coordinate any efforts to stamp out bird flu in consultation with specialised U.N. organisations. Officials stressed the E.U. does not consider bird flu to be a European problem but that it recognises there is a threat of a pandemic.

Threat downplayed

Seeking to calm public fears, the head of the E.U.'s new agency for disease prevention on Monday downplayed the current risk to humans.

``The risk to human health, to public health, at this stage is minimal,'' said Zsuzsanna Jakab of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

However, she said the Stockholm, Sweden-based agency was drawing up guidelines on how workers who deal with infected animals can protect themselves against infection.

Geneva-based WHO recommends Governments keep stocks of anti-viral drugs and regular human flu vaccines to inoculate at least 25 per cent of their populations.

European officials say E.U. member nations, as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, have only 10 million doses now for an area of almost 500 million people, and will have only 46 million doses by the end of 2007.

Stockpiling vaccines is difficult as flu viruses can mutate quickly. — AP

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