Conference experts warn of bird flu epidemic

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.

Scientists and representatives from more than two dozen countries focused on long-term strategies for eradicating the disease as they met in southern Ho Chi Minh City, near the Mekong Delta where the latest outbreaks emerged this year.