U.S. pledges extra $320 million for bird flu fight

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U.S. pledges extra $320 million for bird flu fight 1 hr 47 mins ago

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – The United States pledged an

additional $320 million to the global fight against bird flu and

warned on Saturday against complacency in combating the virus, which

could mutate and cause a deadly pandemic.

The figure brings to $949 million Washington's total pledges to fight

avian influenza, which has killed 245 people in Asia, Africa, and

Europe since late 2003. Countless birds have also been culled.

" The United States is pledging an additional $320 million in

international assistance for avian and pandemic influenza, " said a

Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs.

She did not say how much of the U.S. aid would be in the form of

grants to developing countries and how much would come in the form of

conditional loans.

Speaking at the opening of a ministerial conference in Egypt,

Dobriansky echoed comments from Egyptian ministers and heads of

international organizations in warning of public complacency and " flu

fatigue. "

" (There is) a growing feeling that the threat of an influenza pandemic

has somehow diminished and that scarce resources could be better used

elsewhere in the field of public health, in other words flu fatigue, "

she said.

Official pledges will be made at the end of the conference on Sunday.

The World Bank estimates that a global pandemic resulting from the

mutation of bird flu could cost $3 trillion and result in a nearly 5

percent drop in world gross domestic product.

It has said that more than 70 million people could die worldwide in a

severe pandemic.

http://news./s/nm/20081025/hl_nm/us_birdflu_egypt_1