TMCnet News
U.N. bird flu coordinator asks China to share bird flu data+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)BEIJING, April 4_(Kyodo) _ China should share its bird flu fighting experience with nations that are just starting to face the disease, a World Health Organization official said Tuesday. China has shown it can vaccinate poultry, change regulations and increase surveillance to find avian influenza cases in birds and humans, said David Nabarro, U.N. system senior coordinator for bird flu. Thirty countries in Africa, Asia and Europe have reported outbreaks in poultry, double the number three months ago. China began reporting cases in late 2003 and has developed poultry vaccines proven effective in labs, WHO officials have found. China has vaccinated about 90 percent of its 14 billion poultry, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. Chinese officials have also promised in writing to give the WHO data on its poultry outbreaks and indicated they will offer the WHO more data on mysteries surrounding a human case in Shanghai. "This is a really serious global situation, and so you won't be surprised that I come to the country that has 20 percent of world's poultry population to find out the extent to which they are ready to help the international battle to try to address the challenges posed by avian influenza," Nabarro told a press conference at the end of a 27-hour China visit. Nabarro met with Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin, and officials in the foreign and health ministries. WHO officials have said bird flu may turn into a pandemic and called its development to date a warning call to prevent its spread. Chinese officials have reported 16 human cases and 11 deaths from the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu. China began reporting cases in October 2005. Since 2003, bird flu has sickened 190 people and killed 107, according to WHO data. Cases in a total of nine countries range across Asia to Egypt. Nabarro leaves China later Tuesday for visits to the bird flu-hit countries of Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam through the middle of next week. |