World ‘not ready for bird-flu outbreak’

A TOP US health official said yesterday that “no one in the world is ready” for a potentially catastrophic outbreak of Avian flu.

But Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt also said that US officials and their counterparts around the globe recognise that a pandemic is possible and are working hard on ways to protect people from it.

“The good news is, we do have a vaccine,” Mr Leavitt said on CBS television’s The Early Show.