WHO warns of deadlier pandemic than SARS

cctv.com 01-28-2004 10:12

Vietnam has so far been the hardest hit by the bird flu outbreak. Besides six confirmed fatalities there have been seven more suspected deaths caused by the avian disease. The World Health Organization describes the spread of bird flu as unprecedented and warns of a pandemic deadlier than SARS.

About 2 million chickens have been killed by the disease or have been culled in Vietnam. The transport of chickens is banned across much of southern Vietnam and their sale has stopped in Ho Chi Minh City. Authorities are uncertain why the human flu cases have been clustered in the north, while the chickens were sick in the south. Possible explanations are differing climatic conditions and some cases in the south going undiagnosed. The WHO official has expressed deep concern for the virus's spread in so many Asian countries and the increasing number of infected birds.

Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director, said, "So what we are concerned is that if and when this virus gains the potential for the human to human transmission, the number of affected or killed will be staggering, at least more serious, I can say, than the SARS case last year".

Experts are worried there might be a mixing of the avian flu with a human strain. The result could be a new, contagious deadly disease could sweep out of Asia, a year after the emergence of SARS. The H5N1 variant of bird flu is the most deadly strain. Although human fatalities from avian flu are currently very rare, the great fear is that the H5N1 virus might mate with human influenza and unleash a pandemic among people with no immunity to it. But WHO authorities warn that the more flu cases among the poultry, the greater the chance that people will be infected. The WHO has launched an international appeal calling for urgent measures to contain the virus. Medics say a vaccine may take months to develop.

Editor:Hope  Source:CCTV.com