Asian states slow to report bird flu: WHO official

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Asian states slow to report bird flu: WHO official

Tue Jan 24, 2006 09:33 AM ET

By Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Asian countries have lagged in reporting some

human cases of bird flu and this could jeopardise the chances of

swiftly containing any potential pandemic, a top World Health

Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday.

Shigeru Omi, WHO's Western Pacific regional director, said it

highlighted the need for countries to boost their capacity quickly to

detect and report cases of the deadly H5N1 virus.

" The window of opportunity for containment is very narrow, meaning

rapid containment measures must be carried out at least two to three

weeks after detection of a potential pandemic event, " Omi said in a

speech to the WHO's Executive Board.

" However up to now, only half of the reports for human H5N1 cases

meet this target. Some reports have been received as late as one or

two months after disease onset, " he added.

Omi did not identify which Asian countries were to blame.

China on Monday reported its 10th human case of infection after a 29-

year-old woman from the southwest Sichuan province was diagnosed. A

WHO spokeswoman said the United Nations agency was seeking more

information from Beijing on the latest case.

The virus has killed at least 82 people in six countries since late

2003. It recently spread to people in Turkey.

Victims contract the virus through close contact with sick birds, but

there are fears it could mutate into a form that can pass easily from

person to person, sparking a pandemic.

The WHO says that if a pandemic strain of the virus emerges, it may

be possible to halt human-to-human spread, but only if " fire blanket "

measures including distribution of antivirals and restrictions on

movement of people are taken quickly.

Margaret Chan, WHO's top pandemic official, announced the agency

would host a global meeting in March on containment.

China's envoy said his country was " gradually improving our

surveillance and reporting system, " while Russia's delegate reported

it had been able to contain outbreaks among poultry and avoid human

cases so far.

A vaccine is seen as the best hope for limiting the death toll from a

pandemic and some early-stage clinical trials are under way. But

experts say it will be a race against time to get sufficient

quantities to those who need it.

Thirteen drug makers are developing at least 28 prototype vaccines

against a potential pandemic strain which might emerge from six

different strains including H5N1, according to an industry body.

They were working to smooth the way for rapid regulatory approval and

high-volume production of pandemic vaccines, said Harvey Bale,

director-general of the Geneva-based International Federation of

Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations.

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