- KUALA LUMPUR -- Scientists
meeting in Malaysia have warned the world has reached a tipping point in
the fight against bird flu.
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- They are calling on rich nations to put resources into
countries fighting the disease, or risk a global flu pandemic.
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- But some delegates say the fight against bird flu is
being hampered by secrecy in some affected countries.
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- They say they are worried by a lack of information from
Laos and Burma, while others called on China to be more open about the
situation there.
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- The Kuala Lumpur conference's focus is protecting farm
and market workers, and preparing medics and vets for an outbreak. The
World Health Organization (WHO) wants a strategy to prevent viruses leaping
from animals to humans, and creating a hybrid flu germ.
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- Scientists insist that bird flu can still be prevented
from turning into a virus that spreads among people.
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- But press them a little and it is clear that they are
desperately worried the battle is being lost.
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- Funding needed
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- According to the WHO, East Asian countries are doing
their best to contain outbreaks among poultry and wild bird populations.
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- But without funding and resources from the West, it says
they have not got a hope.
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- WHO regional spokesman Peter Cordingley said rich nations
appeared complacent, and warned that the impact of a human flu pandemic
would be on a far greater scale than the Sars outbreak two years ago.
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- "We don't know what the fatalities will be,"
he said. "We can expect it to be very high.
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- "There will be enormous economic dislocation. Stock
markets will close, international travel and trade will be limited.
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- "We can't put a figure on this, but Sars in fact
will be dwarfed by a flu pandemic if one happens."
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- Better hygiene
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- Joseph Domenech, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation's
chief vet, wants China to properly investigate the recent deaths of 6,000
birds in Quinhai Province.
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- It is feared survivors could carry the virus south to
India and Pakistan when they migrate.
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- He also asked China to be open about the misuse of the
human anti-viral drug amantadine to counter bird flu, amid worries that
it will become useless if the virus spreads to people.
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- But if it is hard getting information from China, Laos
and Burma might as well be on the dark side of the moon, according to Mr
Cordingley.
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- This meeting brings together delegates from the WHO,
the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal
Health.
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- They are focussing on high-risk areas like the backyard
farms, where most of Asia's food is produced and where people and animals
live side-by-side.
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- Other hotspots include wet markets, where birds are stored
live for shoppers.
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- Both provide ideal conditions for bird flu to spread
and pass to humans.
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- Experts hope that by encouraging better hygiene and safer
working practices, it may be possible to stop some animal viruses jumping
the species barrier.
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- So far bird flu is known to have claimed 55 lives in
China, Vietnam and Thailand.
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- © BBC MMV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4647485.stm
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