Originally published March 1 2005
Bird flu experts warn that we are not prepared for an epidemic
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Bird flu experts are getting together to discuss the possible threat of a worldwide bird flu pandemic. Officials conclude that the threat is far from over, and that the strain is likely to mutate into a form that is deadly to humans. They refer back to flu in 1918 that began to spread in a way that resembles how the bird flu is spreading. That flu killed between 40 and 60 million people.
Bird flu experts from around Asia were gathering in Vietnam on Tuesday to figure out how to kill off a virus one leading American expert has called the world's biggest threat to human health.
"At the moment, we are not on top of it," said Hans Wagner of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization as he prepared for a two-day conference in Vietnam, the country worst hit by a virus which has killed 46 people since it arrived in Asia in late 2003.
"Definitely we have made progress, but there is much to be done," he said in Ho Chi Minh City, home to 10 million people and close to the Mekong Delta where Vietnam's latest outbreak began.
The H5N1 virus, which experts in Asia say thrives best in the cool season now coming to an end, spread to half Vietnam's 64 provinces and cities, killed 13 people and forced the government to take drastic measures to contain it.
"This is a very ominous situation for the globe," Dr Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, said on Monday.
Governments in Asia, where tens of millions of poultry have been slaughtered in a vain bid to eliminate the virus, were hard at work on the problem, the FAO's Wagner said.
Surveillance systems were in place, laboratories had been upgraded to do the necessary testing and warnings to the public not to touch sick chickens commonplace, he said.
"I'm afraid there will be an outbreak on a nearby farm and the government will slaughter all poultry in the area," he said with an eye on a farm 1 km (mile) away raising ducks, which, like their wild cousins, can carry the virus without showing symptoms.
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