The world is unprepared for a flu pandemic, health officials said at a conference in Malaysia, citing a lack of political commitment, funding and a vaccine to protect humans against bird flu.

A MAN with a form of tuberculosis so dangerous he is under the first US government-ordered quarantine since 1963 said he took one transatlantic flight for his wedding and honeymoon and another because he feared for his life.

The US government is getting ready to test a bird flu vaccine and stockpiling both vaccine and antiviral drugs as the threat grows that a deadly strain of avian influenza will begin spreading from Asia.

Health and animal experts warned bird flu could trigger the next global pandemic as they opened a three-day conference today in Vietnam on how to control what has been deemed the world’s biggest health risk.

THE World Health Organisation has warned that a highly contagious and deadly pneumonia-like illness of unknown cause is fast becoming a worldwide health threat.