Bird flu claims more victims in Asia

cctv.com 01-27-2004 09:31

The bird flu virus has been spreading deeper into the Asian continent, claiming seven more lives, six in Vietnam, and one in Thailand. With Indonesia also recently reporting an outbreak of some strains of the flu across the country, the World Health Organization has raised concerns about the fast spread of the virus in Asia. On Monday, the WHO called on the international community to help find a cure for the virus.

WHO has set Asia on a region-wide health alert against the flu. In their efforts to contain the spread of the disease, WHO has made it clear that it views the situation with great concern.

"There's been a bit of a setback (in developing a vaccine) because we were hoping that the virus that was present in Hong Kong in 1997 and again last year that would be the prototype for a new vaccine. But it seems that the virus that is in Vietnam and elsewhere has mutated and we can't use the Hong Kong virus," said Peter Cordingley, spokesman for WHO Regional Office.

But he also said science would eventually find a way to halt the virus. But he admitted it might take longer to develop a vaccine than originally hoped. The spokesman also called for the international community to join hands in finding a cure for the disease.

"All the ASEAN countries, plus others, plus the international community, have to get behind this. And resources have to be made available. And that means money, that means people, that means equipment. This is now spreading too quickly for anybody to ignore it," said Peter Cordingley, spokesman for WHO Regional Office.

On Wednesday, Thailand will host a meeting of foreign, agriculture and health ministers from bird flu-affected countries, as well as international influenza experts. Participants are scheduled to work out strategies to thwart the spread of the disease.

Since bird flu was confirmed by the Thai government, the country has exterminated some nine million chickens. On Sunday, Thailand enlisted hundreds of soldiers and 60 prisoners to help with further culling.

The mass culling of chickens has been a disaster on a huge scale for Thailand, the world's fourth biggest exporter of chickens. With many nations, including Japan, as well as the European Union banning imports of poultry products from Thailand, affected farmers in the country are on the verge of bankruptcy.

"We made enough for a living and to pay off the interest on the bank loan. If this hadn't happened we would have been fine. Now we'll be bankrupt," said Gosum Mingtyson, Thai chicken farmer.

In Indonesia, the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday that 4.7 million chickens in 10 provinces had died from avian influenza and Newcastle disease. But they said no human cases had been reported so far.

There is a relatively calm attitude among the public in Indonesia. But as a precautionary measure to contain any larger epidemic of the disease, the Ministry has created a team of experts to carry out further tests to determine the level of bird flu danger to the Indonesian people.

Editor:Han  Source:CCTV.com