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| EU makes plans to fight avian flu |
| 2005-04-30 |
| The European Commission announced plans this week to update efforts among EU member nations to help prevent outbreaks of avian and human influenza. The H5N1 strain of avian flu is sweeping through poultry in Asia and has spread in some instances to the human population, causing fatalities. Health officials fear the virus could become more infectious to people and cause a devastating global pandemic. "Beyond the known impact on animal health and welfare, there is a real fear that a mutant strain of avian flu could cause a human influenza pandemic," Markos Kyprianou, the EU's commissioner for health and consumer protection, told reporters in Brussels on Thursday. Until now, the EU has not adopted measures to monitor the virus, but as a result of the recent outbreak in Southeast Asia, and previous poultry cases reported in Europe, Canada and the United States, health commission officials said they have been prompted to install a continental surveillance plan. Under the new proposal, the 25 member states would be required to boost their veterinary surveillance of the poultry population to try to detect low-pathogen forms of the virus -- which generally are not dangerous to humans-- and prevent them from mutating into potentially deadly high-pathogenic forms. The commission recommended each member nation watch for risk factors, such as possible contact of domestic poultry with wild birds, spread of infection among different poultry species and the density of poultry farms. Commission officials said in a statement the cost of the programs could run from 3 million to 8 million euros ($3.8 million to $10.2 million) per year, adding they were confident the laws would pay for themselves by helping to safeguard the continent's agricultural sector. "The current situation in Asia and recent outbreaks of avian flu in the EU has shown us how devastating the social and economic consequences of this disease can be," Kyprianou said. Europe has seen sporadic avian flu outbreaks, beginning in Italy in 1999-2000, with other cases reported in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. So far, Europe has experienced only one human death as a result of avian flu -- in 2003 in the Netherlands. As a result of the outbreak, however, Dutch authorities worked with the health commission to cull 33 million birds, including one-day old chicks, costing 150 million euros ($192 million). "This proposal aims to set up the best possible system to prevent new outbreaks of avian flu in the EU, to swiftly manage those that do occur and to minimize their negative impact," Kyprianou added. In January 2004, the World Health Organization activated its influenza pandemic-preparedness plan after individuals infected with H5N1 died in Vietnam and Thailand. Since then, the WHO has reported a series of outbreaks in six South Asian countries, including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and the Republic of Korea. A report by WHO officials issued April 12 said there have been 80 confirmed human cases of avian flu, 50 of which were fatal, since Jan. 28. Of those, Cambodia reported three cases, all of which were fatal -- including an 8-year old girl from Kampot. Thailand had 17 cases, 12 of which were fatal. Vietnam was hardest hit, with 60 human cases in 18 cities and provinces and 35 dead. Humans become infected by the avian strain through the air, after inhaling the dried and pulverized feces of birds. Symptoms are similar to other types of flu, including fever, malaise, sore throat and cough. Some victims even develop conjunctivitis. A WHO report earlier this year concluded that surveillance and reporting systems for both the human and animal variations of the disease have been weak. "Assessment of the risk to humans need to be based on a risk assessment of the disease situation in poultry that considers the prevalence of highly pathogenic avian influenza and the adequacy of the surveillance system," the report said. "A reliable system of review and verification is needed to ascertain that poultry are disease-free in an area or country. Equally important is a robust surveillance system for human respiratory illnesses that might signal transmission of avian H5N1 infection to humans." |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |