The Ones
from aol news:
The World Health Organisation says a Bird Flu pandemic could lead to seven million deaths and make billions of people ill.
"I believe we are closer now to a pandemic than at any time in recent years,'' Shigeru Omi, WHO's Western Pacific regional director said yesterday at a regional meeting about the disease.
"The current outbreak (of avian influenza) in poultry is historically unprecedented in terms of geographical spread and impact,'' he said.
"This virus appears to be not only very resilient, but also extremely versatile.''
WHO's global influenza expert, Klaus Stohr, told delegates the H5N1 bird flu virus - which has killed 32 people in Thailand and Vietnam and millions of chickens across Asia this year - "is certainly the most likely one that will cause the next pandemic.''
Influenza pandemics historically occur every 20 to 30 years when the genetic makeup of a flu strain changes so dramatically that people have little or no immunity built up from previous flu bouts.
The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 killed between 20 and 40 million people.
Urgent plans needed
Health ministers from 13 Asian countries pledged at the meeting to cooperate more in efforts to ward off the possible pandemic and to prepare contingency plans to deal with it.
Omi told the meeting that the region must reduce bird flu's threat to humans by changing farming practices.
"This means a thorough overhaul of animal husbandry practices, and the way animals are raised for food in the region. I believe that anything less than that will only result in further threats to public health,'' he explained.
Chickens, ducks and other animals are often allowed to roam freely on small Southeast Asian farms, and often come into close contact with wild animals and with family members.
Some animal health experts have been promoting so-called ''closed-system farming,'' in which poultry are raised in a sealed environment where they face minimal exposure to outside infections. But the system is likely to be prohibitively expensive for many poor farmers.
The World Health Organisation says a Bird Flu pandemic could lead to seven million deaths and make billions of people ill.
"I believe we are closer now to a pandemic than at any time in recent years,'' Shigeru Omi, WHO's Western Pacific regional director said yesterday at a regional meeting about the disease.
"The current outbreak (of avian influenza) in poultry is historically unprecedented in terms of geographical spread and impact,'' he said.
"This virus appears to be not only very resilient, but also extremely versatile.''
WHO's global influenza expert, Klaus Stohr, told delegates the H5N1 bird flu virus - which has killed 32 people in Thailand and Vietnam and millions of chickens across Asia this year - "is certainly the most likely one that will cause the next pandemic.''
Influenza pandemics historically occur every 20 to 30 years when the genetic makeup of a flu strain changes so dramatically that people have little or no immunity built up from previous flu bouts.
The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 killed between 20 and 40 million people.
Urgent plans needed
Health ministers from 13 Asian countries pledged at the meeting to cooperate more in efforts to ward off the possible pandemic and to prepare contingency plans to deal with it.
Omi told the meeting that the region must reduce bird flu's threat to humans by changing farming practices.
"This means a thorough overhaul of animal husbandry practices, and the way animals are raised for food in the region. I believe that anything less than that will only result in further threats to public health,'' he explained.
Chickens, ducks and other animals are often allowed to roam freely on small Southeast Asian farms, and often come into close contact with wild animals and with family members.
Some animal health experts have been promoting so-called ''closed-system farming,'' in which poultry are raised in a sealed environment where they face minimal exposure to outside infections. But the system is likely to be prohibitively expensive for many poor farmers.
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