Bird flu ‘heading for Europe’

AS BIRD flu marches west across Russia toward Europe, health experts expressed optimism that European countries could stamp it out before the virus takes hold and spreads among people.

“Will this make its way to Western Europe? I think most of us have no doubt,” said Michael Osterholm, an expert on bird flu and director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in the US.

But he and other experts say that while the situation is worrisome, Europe is better equipped than south-east Asia to quickly attack the disease that scientists fear could unleash a pandemic.

The scenario of a bird flu outbreak in Europe would be very different from that in Asia, said Juan Lubroth, an animal health expert with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, one of the agencies responsible for tracking the virus.

It would not only be detected more quickly, he said, but people don’t live in close quarters with animals, as they do in much of south-east Asia.

The European poultry industry also is better able to shelter its birds from contact with the wild ducks blamed for the disease’s spread. Italy and the Netherlands have previously stamped out outbreaks of bird flu.

Also, experts noted the health care system is better able to deal with human exposure to bird flu.

“Theoretically, because it’s going to be stopped in its tracks, it’s not going to infect humans because of the quick detection, and it would have less of a chance to become adapted to humans,” said Lubroth.