WHO to host new talks about bird flu

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WHO to host talks on containing bird flu pandemic

Fri Mar 3, 11:34 AM ET

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that a meeting of

experts next week will sharpen plans for containing any human

influenza pandemic should an easily transmissible strain of bird flu

emerge.

The WHO's " pandemic containment strategy, " which calls for using

quarantines and Roche's antiviral Tamiflu, will be discussed at

three-day talks opening in Geneva on Monday, it said in a statement.

" The meeting will continue development of an operational guide for WHO

and international public health authorities to use in an attempt to

extinguish a pandemic in its initial stages, " WHO spokeswoman Fadela

Chaib told a news briefing.

Some 30 epidemiologists, virologists, and laboratory experts will take

part in the technical-level talks, along with health officials from

affected countries.

But the United Nations agency concedes that its so-called " fire

blanket " strategy is untested as the world has never before had

advance warning that a pandemic may be imminent.

H5N1 has killed birds in more than 30 countries stretching from South

Korea to Germany and into Nigeria. It has spread to 14 new countries

in the past month and infected 174 people since 2003, killing 94 of them.

Scientists say the deadly virus is mutating steadily and may

eventually acquire the changes it needs to be easily transmitted from

human to human. Because people lack any immunity to it, it could sweep

the world in a matter of weeks or months, killing millions and

bringing economies to their knees.

" Halting a pandemic depends on several factors, such as the early

identification of the pandemic strain, the ability of the global

community to implement containment procedures and the ability to

effectively control the movement of people in and out of the affected

area to prevent further geographical spread of the virus, " the WHO said.

Even if a pandemic cannot be stopped, public health interventions such

as quarantines might buy time to allow countries to tighten their

control measures, it said.

Each day gained followed the detection of a pandemic virus would allow

production of around five million doses of a pandemic vaccine -- which

does not exist yet -- it added.

Margaret Chan, WHO's top pandemic official, is to kick off the talks,

which will break up into closed-door working groups.

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