World Organisation for Animal Health urges bird flu vigilance

Channel NewsAsia 8 Jan 09;

PARIS: The world's paramount authority on trade in farm animals on Wednesday urged countries not to let up in the fight against deadly bird flu.

Outbreaks of H5N1 avian influence among poultry fell last year, as did the toll among humans who came into contact with infected birds, but the story is far from over, said Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE.

"There is still a risk from the poultry trade, because the virus has become endemic in some countries that have been unable to get rid of it," Vallat told reporters.

Vallat singled out Egypt and Indonesia as countries where, he said, veterinary surveillance was insufficient.

In China and Vietnam, said Vallat, outbreaks of H5N1 had been managed thanks to systematic vaccination of poultry flocks.

"However, this is expensive and will have to stop one day," he said.

H5N1 bird flu has now killed 248 people since it re-appeared in Asia in 2003, according to the the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) tally.

Of these, 113 died in Indonesia, 52 in Vietnam, 21 in China and 17 in Vietnam.

Deaths last year numbered 31, after 59 in 2007 and 79 in 2006. Eighteen occurred in Indonesia, five in Vietnam and four each in Egypt and in China.

Scientists fear the virus could eventually mutate into a form more easily transmissible between humans, triggering a global pandemic.

Despite the declining human toll, "the theoretical risk of the virus mutating and becoming a killer is still there," said Vallat, who made the comments in a New Year's meeting with reporters in Paris.

Vallat said it was in the interest of rich countries to beef up veterinary surveillance in poor countries.

As a result of globalisation, the spread of an animal-borne disease to other economies can have disastrous consequences, he noted.

On Monday, a 19-year-old Chinese woman died of H5N1 in Beijing after coming into contact with ducks at a poultry market. Authorities in Vietnam also announced on Tuesday an eight-year-old girl had tested positive for H5N1 in the north of the country. - AFP/de