ZKEA

Biological Warfare : Biological Terrorism : Emerging Diseases

Archived News
Week ending November 20th, 2005

A deadly new global pandemic of human influenza is inevitable and suffering will be "incalculable" unless the world is ready, the chief of the U.N. health agency said Monday. The World Bank put the possible economic cost at a minimum of $800 billion.

"We have been experiencing a relentless spread of avian flu" among migratory birds and domestic poultry, Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the World Health Organization told a meeting of 600 health experts and planners, the first attempt to devise a global strategy in case the bird flu virus changes to transmit easily among humans.

Lee stressed that a human flu pandemic has yet to begin anywhere in the world. "However, the signs are clear that is coming," he said, noting that a changed avian flu virus caused the deadly "Spanish" flu pandemic that killed tens of millions of people in 1918-1919.

Already the virulent H5N1 strain of avian flu, which appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, is killing birds in 15 countries of Europe and Asia, he said.

"It is only a matter of time before an avian flu virus -- most likely H5N1 ..

During lunch at a KFC restaurant in central Beijing earlier this week, some customers didn't go anywhere near the main fare.

English teacher Clare Wei stuck to tea and salad. Clerk Chris Li was more timid and chugged just a Coke. "It's risky to eat chicken right now," Ms. Li said. "I haven't ordered food in KFC for days in case they have touched the chicken."

Similar sentiments are spreading throughout China, where many diners are boycotting chicken in a panic over bird flu among poultry; yesterday, officials reported the sixth such outbreak in a month. Sales of chicken, duck meat and eggs throughout the country have plunged by as much as 60% in recent weeks, according to poultry farmers and suppliers.

Yum Brands Inc., like McDonald's Corp. and other American fast-food chains, views China as one of the last regions on the planet where the fast-food business has room to grow rapidly. But on Monday Yum said October sales at its 1,500 KFC restaurants in China rose just 8% -- well below its long-term 22% target. Yum, which also operates Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, said it's too soon to know if bird flu is a factor in slowing sales growth, and instead blames them partly on an unpopular new fried chicken steak item. "It didn't resonate with consumers," said Jonathan Blum, senior vice president for Yum, which is based in Louisville, Ky.

Chinese residents have been treated to unappetizing pictures of mass incinerations ..

A Vietnamese man has died of bird flu, the latest case in Asia that underlines the urgency for top health experts drawing up a strategy in Geneva to prevent the virus from spreading to humans around the globe.

Hours after Vietnam reported its latest case, Indonesia said a girl who died on Tuesday might have had bird flu.

The World Bank says a flu pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion and health experts say it is imperative to control the spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus in animals before it mutates and spreads easily among people.

The World Bank set out the possible financial cost at a three-day meeting in Geneva at which hundreds of experts are drawing up a strategy to prevent bird flu from developing into a pandemic in which millions could die.

"Normally it takes six months to design a program of this kind. We have three days," the senior U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, David Nabarro, said at the talks, stressing the need to boost surveillance and reporting.

In Asia, where 64 people have died of bird flu since late 2003, that need is vital because many farmers live in close proximity to poultry and other livestock.

In Vietnam alone, 42 people have died from H5N1..

Polio has been wiped out in 10 African countries, according to a new report by the World Health Organization.

The WHO said the news demonstrated that the world's poorest countries are committed to eradicating polio around the world within 18 months. Over 200 children were paralysed during the polio outbreaks, which spread from Nigeria across Africa and into the Middle East, even reaching Indonesia. No cases have been found in the 10 west and central African states since June.

"This is the light at the end of the tunnel," said Bruce Aylward, WHO co-ordinator for the eradication of polio.

"The world can be polio-free in another 18 months everywhere and the poorest countries in the world are committed to turning this around."

The polio outbreak began in 2003 when Islamic clerics in Nigeria organised a boycott of the polio vaccine, claiming it was part a western plot against Muslims. Victims often end up disfigured or paralysed, while some die. The disease spread to 15 African countries and managed to spread off the continent.

It was detected in Yemen and Indonesia, causing major health alerts.

The success in wiping out polio in most of Africa leaves only six nations still battling the disease: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt...

ne of the two cases of bird flu recently detected in Kuwait was caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, a Kuwaiti official has said.

It is the first confirmed case in the Gulf of the virus that has devastated poultry stocks and killed more than 62 people in Asia.

Tests on a migratory wild flamingo found last week on a southern Kuwaiti beach showed it had the H5N1 strain.

A falcon found in a shipment at Kuwait Airport had the milder H5N2 strain. Mohammed al-Mihana, the deputy director general of the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR),said the flamingo was destroyed by the authorities and did not die of the virus.

Although Mr Mihana insisted the virus had not been allowed to spread, Kuwait has allocated $5.4m to purchase anti-viral drugs for its residents.

Officials in the Gulf state say they will continue to monitor farms, bird markets, and locations where birds stop when migrating from Asia to Africa.

Last month, Kuwait banned wild bird imports and all poultry from Asian states. The World Health Organisation said that it had expected the virus to reach the region sooner rather than later. "The Middle East and Africa are on the flyways ..