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E.U. talks on bird flu today

H5N1 strain has already appeared in 10 countries

VIENNA: European Union nations hold urgent talks on Friday to assess what more they can do to stop the spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain, which has already appeared in 10 European countries.

Health Ministers from the 25 E.U. countries will also seek to calm fears of a possible human flu pandemic stemming from the disease, which currently poses little threat to human health and is largely of concern to the poultry industry.

Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat said on Thursday the Governments' readiness to deal with a possible pandemic was spotty and that steps must be taken to bring them to appropriate standards. Ms. Rauch-Kallat declined to say which countries lacked appropriate plans.

``There are countries that are well-prepared ... and there are countries that are less well-prepared,'' she said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of Friday's E.U. Health Ministers meeting that she will preside over.

She said the meeting's aim was to focus efforts on assuring the public there is no imminent threat to human health provided people avoid contact with sick animals and to step up coordination among the 25 E.U. Governments to fight bird flu. There have been no human cases of the virus in the E.U.

``This is not the time to panic,'' said Austrian Agriculture Minister Josef Proell after a E.U. Farm Ministers meeting this week in Brussels, Belgium.

The Vienna talks will also be attended by experts from the World Health Organization, the U.N. Food and Agriculture agency and the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. They will debrief Governments on what course the E.U. should pursue to prevent the disease from reaching its farmed poultry, officials said.

The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 persons, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to WHO. — AP

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