WHO sees good chance of Europe resisting bird flu
Europe stands a good chance of preventing the deadly strain of bird flu from reaching its tame bird population, a World Health Organisation official from Asia, where the disease first emerged, said on Monday.
“There is an excellent chance for Europe to contain the Asian flu,” Shigeru Omi, WHO director of the western Pacific region, told reporters at a conference in Copenhagen.
Compared with Asia, where more than 60 people have died from the deadly H5N1 influenza transmitted via birds, Omi said Europe had reacted with much more speed and transparency.
The H5N1 virus has been found among birds in Romania, Turkey and Russia but no human cases have been reported in Europe.
Though cases of migratory birds passing on the virus to poultry in Europe could not be ruled out, Omi did not think the disease would take on widespread proportions.
Lack of information and poor hygiene in backyard poultry farms had spread the virus among birds in Asia, he said. A lack of compensation for culled birds had also stopped poor farmers from reporting outbreaks of bird flu, the WHO official added.
“In Asia, opportunities to intervene were lost, giving the virus the possibility to entrench the region,” he said.
The WHO, the European Commission and other agencies are holding a three-day workshop in Denmark to discuss Europe’s defence against a possible influenza pandemic.
INFLUENZA CONFUSION
Fernand Sauer, director of public health and risk assessment at the European Union’s executive, the European Commission, said confusion between different types of influenza was to blame for an exaggerated fear in Europe about the risk of catching the H5N1 virus.
Asked if the fears of bird flu had turned into hysteria he said: “Yes, but it is because of the misunderstanding between avian influenza, seasonal flu - which will come in December - and pandemic flu, which comes historically from time to time.”
Sauer said the meeting would, among other issues, discuss a call from the European Commission to develop research into protective masks.
“People are very much concentrating on very sophisticated tools, whereas masks are also a very important component, especially for those countries outside the EU as they are cheap and readily available,” he said.
Sauer said masks also had a social value as people who wear them become more aware of other precautionary measures such as frequent hand washing with soap or detergents.
“It is now time to look into the problem,” he said, adding that there was no immediate need for people to wear masks. “It’s the same with masks as with vaccines and anti-viral drugs, they should not be used without clear directions from authorities.”
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