BIRD FLU : A Potential Human Disaster, Experts Say

Three international agencies warned the bird flu virus could mutate and attach itself to a human flu virus. When this happens, it could spread between people.

Countries Affected by the Bird Flu Virus
The agencies also warned that the outbreak decimating chicken farms in Asia was "a disaster for agricultural production".

They are appealing to donors to provide funds and technical assistance to countries hit by bird flu.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO), made this joint statement:

"The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in several areas in Asia is a threat to human health and a disaster for agricultural production. Although it has not happened yet, the so-called 'bird flu' presents a risk of evolving into an efficient and dangerous human pathogen."

WHO Director General Lee Jong-wook:

"This is a serious global threat to human health. This time, we face something we can possibly control before it reaches global proportions if we work co-operatively and share needed resources. We must begin this hard, costly work now."

FAO Director General Jacques Diouf :

"We have a brief window of opportunity before us to eliminate that threat. Farmers in affected areas urgently need to kill infected and exposed animals and require support to compensate for such losses. This will represent a huge cost, especially to struggling economies and small farmers. The international community has a stake in the success of these efforts and poorer nations will need help."

The agencies have sent teams to the countries hit by the outbreak to avert both a human and animal pandemic, as well as an "economic disaster".

Those who come into contact with wild birds are also being advised to wash their hands because of concern they too could be carrying the virus.

AFP Reports:

" Although bird or avian flu spreads through chickens rapidly and extensively, it is only transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected live birds. That risk was growing the longer the highly pathogenic bird flu circulated in humans and farm animals, the three agencies underlined.

Concern has been heightened at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva because of the unchecked spread and duration of bird flu in poultry farms in Asia. It has leapfrogged through Cambodia, Japan, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

FAO and OIE called for tight control on animal movement in the affected areas.They also urged adequate protective clothing and vaccines for farmers involved in culling millions of birds, who are being bagged and buried alive. Workers in the Asian poultry industry can cut their risk of developing the virus by keeping hen houses as clean as possible and washing their hands after dealing with birds.

Despite the growing alarm at the potential human toll, unlike SARS, avian influenza was well understood and could be effectively treated with costly antiviral drugs."

Experts say the only way to stay one step ahead of the virus is to keep on culling birds which might be affected. And if that fails to happen and infected birds reach market, the disease is certain to spread.

The virus is excreted by the birds, which dries up, and can then can be inhaled by humans. People who are in close contact with poultry are at the highest risk of contracting the disease. If it starts to spread between humans, there are antiviral drugs, such as rimantadine, but such drugs are expensive. Scientists are working on producing a vaccine.

Hugh Pennington, professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University, told BBC News Online: "The first line of defence is killing all infected chickens and the birds they have come into contact with. It's how we dealt with the foot and mouth epidemic."

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