Under $300m spent on bird flu

Washington - Just $286m has been spent to fight bird flu out of nearly $1.9bn pledged last January by nations and organisations that said they wanted to make a "massive effort" against the virus, according to a World Bank report.

The money is supposed be used to upgrade veterinary systems, launch vaccination drives and help educate people about hygienic ways to raise animals.

Only Japan, Switzerland and the Czech Republic have fully spent the money promised at a meeting of big donors in Beijing last January, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Africa in particular needs more money, the report said.

"Japan has fully committed its pledge in Beijing of $158m to a range of countries and organisations at the regional and global level," the report reads.

Switzerland pledged and has spent $4.7m while the Czech Republic promised and has spent $200 000.

US singled out

The report, prepared for a meeting of senior officials in Vienna on June 7, also singles out the United States, which pledged and committed $334m, but which has spent $70.95m.

Of $500m in loans promised by the World Bank, just $113m has been committed and only $1.97m sent out.

Since that meeting in January, the H5N1 avian influenza virus has spread out of Asia, across Europe and into Africa.

It has not always affected commercial poultry, but has killed or forced the culling of tens of millions or more birds.

In January, the virus had killed 79 people, all of them in Asia.

Now it has infected at least 224 people in 10 countries, and killed 127 of them, according to the World Health Organisation.

Experts fear it could mutate at any time into a strain that could pass easily from one person to another, sparking a pandemic that would travel around the globe in weeks or months.

- Reuters