CANADA: Health experts gather in Ottawa to discuss global strategy to combat bird flu

Record ID: 859278

  • Title: CANADA: Health experts gather in Ottawa to discuss global strategy to combat bird flu
  • Date: 25th October 2005
  • Summary: (AM) VARIOUS LOCATIONS, THAILAND (FILE) (REUTERS) PATIENTS IN HOSPITAL BEDS CLOSE-UP OF PATIENT
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Canada
  • City:
  • Country: Canada
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAQMY5W277COVBMKOZ4BU1KM2F
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: With global concerns about avian flu on the rise, health officials from more than 30 countries have arrived in Ottawa, Canada for a conference on flu readiness.
    The conference is being held just as another region in European Russia confirmed an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus on Monday (October 24), raising fears it could spread over Europe. The European Union is mulling a ban on the import of live wild birds after a parrot in Britain died of the virulent H5N1 strain of avian flu that has already killed more than 60 people in Asia.
    In Ottawa, host minister Ujjal Dosanjh emphasized that cross-border cooperation is vital.
    "This is probably one of the first steps in actually arriving at a reasonable world preparedness on this issue," said Dosanjh, "because there are no walls around countries, and it is in our self-interest, it's in the self-interest of each and every country in the world to prepare for this. And if we can come out with that out of here, with some common ground and some common gains made, I think it would be wonderful."
    One of the most controversial questions under debate at the conference is the matter of global vaccine supply and distribution. Swiss drugmaker Roche said it has entered into conversations with subcontractors to increase production of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, but many poor countries have little chance of acquiring the expensive drugs.
    Ministers will consider a bold proposal that would send large quantities of anti-viral agents to much of Southeast Asia.
    "We should actually provide 10 percent of our domestic stockpiles of vaccines or anti-virals to a global stockpile," Dosanjh explained, "either in terms of the vaccines or anti-virals, or the equivalent amount of money so that they can be purchased. And I believe that we should do that on an ongoing basis, because once the pandemic strikes, no country is going to part with its stockpiles."
    Meanwhile, one of the participants at the conference told Reuters that fear of a bird flu pandemic among people has hampered efforts to prevent the spread of an outbreak among birds.
    Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said many people seemed more focused on a possible human pandemic than on containing the outbreak, which started almost two years ago in South-East Asia.
    "Even now we seem to focus more on addressing a possible pandemic which is spread from human to human," Diouf said.
    "It's normal to do that and it's good to be ready should this happen. But for the time being we have 140 million birds killed or dying or have died because of avian influenza, with $10 billion of costs."
    The conference opened on Monday afternoon and will continue with a full day of talks on Tuesday. Since emerging in 2003 in South Korea, H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries. Health experts fear it could mutate into a strain that can spread from human to human, triggering a worldwide pandemic and killing millions.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register