World ill-prepared to fight bird flu pandemic, warns WHO

Vietnam warned that bird flu is spreading even faster this year than in last year’s disastrous Asian outbreak, while Thailand approved an emergency budget today to fight the disease amid concern that the world is ill-prepared for an overdue pandemic.

A top health official in Vietnam said the communist country is preparing to combat bird flu over the long haul as the virus shows signs of increased momentum. Nine people have died in Vietnam from the H5N1 bird flu strain since December 30 – compared to 20 for the rest of last year.

“Compared to the first wave in 2004, the number of people infected with pneumonia caused by the H5N1 virus is not as big, but it is spreading faster and with more potency,” said Trinh Quan Huan, the Health Ministry’s director of preventative medicine.

The World Health Organisation’s 32 nation executive board met overnight in Geneva to discuss the urgent need for more international attention on bird flu, which has killed 41 people in Vietnam and Thailand since last year – including nine deaths in the past month.

Human cases of bird flu have generally been traced to sick birds, not other people, but WHO experts fear the disease could soon mutate into a form that easily spreads among people, sparking the next global flu pandemic like the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed up to 40 million people.

However, there is no evidence that this has happened yet.

“As a global community we are still ill-prepared – and as long as one of us is not prepared, none of us is prepared,” said Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, who heads the WHO’s communicable diseases division.

The board passed a resolution that included ways to strengthen bird flu surveillance, boost research on a vaccine, and stockpile the drug when it comes onto the market.

The resolution aims to combat the growing threat of an overdue flu pandemic that could potentially kill millions and shut down entire countries.

Meanwhile, Thailand on Tuesday approved a £7m (€10m) emergency budget to deal with bird flu this year, with much of it earmarked to buy vaccines.

No new human cases have been reported in Thailand, but outbreaks among poultry have resurfaced in the country where 12 people died last year.

Last year, bird flu ravaged 10 countries in Asia, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 100 million birds, including more than 43 million in Vietnam.

Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka, which has not experienced major bird flu bouts, said it was taking precautions to avoid a potential outbreak, and was on full alert in monitoring all influenza cases.