'Bird flu is a global threat'

2005-10-24 11:20

Luxembourg - European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday declared the spread of bird flu from Asia into Europe a "global threat" requiring broad international co-operation.

At a special meeting, the ministers were to issue a statement saying they recognise bird flu poses a serious, global health threat if it shifts from birds to human beings and one "that requires a coordinated international reaction."

One day after bird flu was recorded in Greece's Aegean Sea islands, they also called on the EU executive Commission to speed up the drafting of stronger EU rules designed to prevent, combat and eradicate bird flu.

On Tuesday, Greece banned the export of live birds and poultry meat from the area where the EU's first bird flu case was detected.

Threat of a pandemic

Poultry from Turkey and Romania have already been banned by the EU as bird flu found there was confirmed as being the deadly H5N1 strain. Tests were also being carried out on birds in Bulgaria and Croatia.

The draft EU statement referred to the need for the EU to co-ordinate any efforts to stamp out bird flu in consultation with specialised United Nations organisations. Officials stressed the EU does not consider bird flu to be a European problem but that it recognises there is a threat of a pandemic.

The H5N1 bird flu strain has swept poultry populations in large swathes of Asia since 2003, jumping to humans and killing at least 61 people - more than 40 of them in Vietnam - and resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds.

Its spread westward by migrating wild fowl has intensified fears in Europe the virus may mutate into one that can be easily transmitted among humans - a development that experts fear could provoke a global epidemic that puts millions of lives at risk.

The EU stepped up biosecurity measures and installed early detection systems along the migratory paths of birds to prevent contamination of domestic flocks.

But there are concerns that European nations lack stockpiles of vaccines and anti-virals to cope with a major outbreak.

The World Health Organisation recommends governments keep stocks of anti-viral drugs and regular human flu vaccines to inoculate at least 25 percent of their populations.

There is no human vaccine for the current strain of bird flu but scientists believe the Tamiflu drug may help humans fight bird flu contraction.

- AP