Associated Press | February 20, 2004
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - None of the eight Asian countries struck by the bird flu strain that has decimated poultry and killed 22 people have managed to control their outbreaks despite intense efforts in many of them, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
WHO urged more vigilance against the disease - highly contagious among birds but not yet shown to easily pass between people - and said prospects for wiping out the virus any time soon have worsened as the virus spreads.
Affected countries have culled more than 80 million chicken and other fowl.
WHO cited ways the virus may be spreading despite those efforts: prized fighting cocks hidden from culling authorities by their owners, migratory birds and farming vehicles spreading contamination to neighboring farms.
``The present situation in Asia needs to be watched very carefully. Countries need to maintain a high level of vigilance, and must not relax their surveillance and detection efforts,'' WHO said in a report posted Thursday in Asia.
``Complete elimination of the virus is becoming increasingly challenging,'' WHO said.
Past outbreaks of the H5N1 strain - which killed six people in Hong Kong in 1997 - have taken years to bring under control but never has the disease spread so far, so fast, as with this year's outbreak.
The latest two human deaths were announced Wednesday- one each in Thailand and Vietnam, the only two places where the virus has jumped to humans this year. Both of the victims were 4-year-old boys.
Asia is on a regionwide health alert with China reporting new infections in its poultry nearly every day. Also affected by the H5N1strain are Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos and South Korea.
``Full control has not yet been achieved in any of these countries, despite intensive efforts in many,'' WHO said.
Pakistan and Taiwan have been hit by a milder form of bird flu.
Controlling the virus is difficult partly because much of the region's poultry farming - 80 percent of it in some countries - is handled in small backyard farms that are difficult to regulate.
``Once introduced in domestic flocks, the virus which is highly contagious, can be mechanically carried from farm to farm via contaminated items, such as vehicles, clothing and equipment,'' WHO said.
``The tendency to hide or smuggle especially valuable birds, such as fighting cocks, can also help maintain the virus in the environment or contribute to its further geographical spread,'' WHO said.
Thailand announced earlier this week that it confirmed the H5N1 strain in hundreds of migratory storks found dead on the outskirts of Bangkok.
Although most of the human cases have been traced to direct contact with sick birds, experts fear that the longer it takes to contain the virus, the greater the chances are that it might link with the human flu virus and become easily transmittable from person to person, sparking a new flu pandemic.Associated Press:
