World experts split on bird-flu control

November 9, 2005

BY EMMA ROSS Associated Press

GENEVA - Experts were divided Tuesday over whether the deadly bird

flu strain ravaging farms in parts of Asia can be wiped out in

poultry.

Veterinary experts at the U.N.'s agriculture agency said that given

enough money, the virus can be eliminated from the global poultry

population within a year.

However, a bird specialist at the World Organization for Animal

Health said the close contact between poultry and wild birds in Asia

means the most that can be hoped for is to contain the virus until it

mutates to a milder form and disappears, or develops into a human

strain capable of spreading globally.

Stamping out the H5N1 virus in poultry is considered the best defense

against the possibility it could become a human strain that sparks a

global pandemic capable of killing millions of people.

Meanwhile in Hanoi, the EU's health commissioner called for a

coordinated international response Tuesday as Vietnam confirmed its

first human death from bird flu in more than three months.

''No country can deal with it on its own. This is a global threat and

needs a global response,'' said Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou

during a news conference on the first stop on a four-country

Southeast Asian tour to discuss efforts to contain the deadly strain

of bird flu that has recently spread from Asia to Europe.

Experts say a global flu epidemic is certain, but it is unknown when

that will occur, whether the H5N1 strain will be the culprit or how

deadly the pandemic will be.

Nobody has kept track of exactly how much has been spent on trying to

eliminate H5N1 from poultry stocks. However, the World Bank estimates

that on the basis of current programs and pledges, more money will be

spent on stockpiling flu drugs than on efforts to control the disease

in poultry.

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