Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that WHO's China office
urged China to guard against possible human infection and to share
information and virus samples with other countries.
WHO spokesperson Roy Wadia said it is difficult and even
impossible to find out how many people might get infected in many
Asian countries as a lot of farmers live side by side with their
livestock. The report did not say when he was speaking.
He said the fact that no human infection cases have been
reported doesn't mean there are no such cases.
Praising China for the huge resources it has put into its
anti-bird flu campaign, he said it was "just a start," calling on
China to stay vigilant against human infection.
China has experienced bird flu outbreaks in Anhui, Hunan and
Liaoning provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in
recent weeks that have killed thousands of birds, but only reported
three suspected human cases in Hunan, currently diagnosed as
"pneumonia of an unknown cause."
The possibility of human infection of H5N1 avian influenza has
not been ruled out as all three had close contact with dead
poultry. A 12-year-old girl, one of the three, died on October
17.
Vietnam has suffered over 40 of the 62 known human bird flu
deaths in Asia since 2003.
Southeast and East Asia have large populations whose livestock
stay in backyard farms or homes.
Facing the WHO's warning of a possible human pandemic, China has
toughened measures to fight the highly pathogenic virus. The State
Council has launched a national command center for the prevention
and control of bird flu and earmarked US$250 million to fund the
battle.
Beijing also has announced to shut down all live poultry markets
and Shanghai banned sales of live ducks, quail and other birds.
Health experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily
transmissible between humans, unleashing a pandemic that could kill
millions.
A meeting of hundreds of international experts that opened on
Monday in Geneva warned that a global human flu pandemic could cost
the global economy at least US$800 billion.
To win the fight, Wadia said the WHO thinks it is vital for
countries with outbreaks to share information and samples of the
most current virus strains to create effective vaccines.
"If countries don't share, vaccines may not be complete. It will
be impossible to protect humans without all virus strain
combinations."
He urged China to share virus samples of recent outbreaks with
the international community.
A group of WHO experts is expected to come to China at the
invitation of the government to investigate the Hunan cases this
week. A dialogue is underway between China and the WHO to determine
what the assistance should be.
The WHO official said China's agricultural ministry should
improve its bird flu policy.
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2005)