www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

  .contact us |.about us
News > International News ... ...
Search:
    Advertisement
WHO warns against creating bird flu panic
( 2004-02-04 08:32) (Agencies)

The United Nations health agency sought Tuesday to dampen fears of bird flu striking large numbers of people, even as the death toll in Asia climbed to 13.

A 7-year-old boy became the fourth person to die from the disease in Thailand. Vietnam has reported nine fatalities.

"I think it's very important at this stage that we remain calm about worst-case scenarios," said Mike Ryan, head of the global epidemic response network at the World Health Organization. "What we're dealing with at the moment is small clusters of cases associated with exposure to poultry."

"We have a strain of influenza with the potential to pick up human genes, and we're nowhere close to declaring a pandemic," Ryan told reporters.

Asia's bird flu crisis topped the agenda at a three-day emergency meeting beginning Tuesday at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. Experts hope to work out strategies for tackling the outbreak and preventing future one.

Joseph Domenech, chief of the FAO animal health department, addressed the concern the virus could mutate.

"Today we are not at this stage, but until now the veterinary, the animal outbreaks, are multiplying. It's still an increasing curve, so if it continues that way, the risks are still more and more important," he said.

Ten Asian countries are battling bird flu, also known as avian influenza, and at least 45 million chickens have been slaughtered across the region to stop its spread. Cases in humans have been reported only in Vietnam and Thailand, with most traced to direct contact with sick birds.

Fears the disease had spread to Europe subsided after doctors said a German tourist who came down with flu-like symptoms after visiting Thailand was most likely free of the disease.

Investigators have been unable to trace the infections of two Vietnamese women to contact with chickens and have not ruled out human-to-human transmission. But even if the women did catch the disease from a family member, limited transmission of the virus between people is not the real danger.

What experts fear most is the virus mutating into a form that passes easily between people - a pandemic strain that is a hybrid of the bird virus and a normal human influenza variety.

"What we're saying is that we're not dealing with an imminent threat to public health, but we are dealing with a potential threat to public health," Ryan said.

The other countries battling the disease are China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea and China's Taiwan Province. However, health officials say the strain of bird flu striking Taiwan and Pakistan is milder and is not considered a serious threat to humans.

Ryan, who steered WHO's response to last year's SARS epidemic in Asia and Canada, said authorities worldwide must keep bird flu under close surveillance.

"This latest avian influenza outbreak sends another shot across the bows, another warning to us that we must be ready in the event of the emergence of a pandemic strain," he said. "While we're watching, we've got to be preparing."

WHO has sent teams to the region and to the meeting in Rome. At least 25 international experts from 15 countries were attending that meeting, including high-level veterinary officials from affected nations and representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials say destroying infected birds, if safely carried out, is the best way to contain the disease, but the mass slaughter and import bans have ravaged Asia's poultry industry.

WHO officials have said people who eat poultry are not at risk from bird flu but that import restrictions on live birds are needed to halt the spread of the disease among farm flocks.

The European Union and Japan have both barred poultry products from Thailand, with the EU extending its ban Tuesday for another six months. The extension also applies to a ban on pet birds from Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

Asian tourism has begun to suffer, although WHO has not issued any travel warnings as it did during the SARS outbreak.

WHO also is spearheading the hunt for a bird flu vaccine. Ryan said prototypes developed by the agency will shortly be supplied to pharmaceutical companies so they can begin research on a useable vaccine, which experts expect to be ready within months.

"This is something that is very achievable, this is not some brave new world," Ryan said. "Giving a worst-case scenario without taking into account our possibility to intervene successfully (with a vaccine) I think at this point would be scaremongering."

 
Close  
   
  Today's Top News   Top International News
   
+WHO: Bird flu death rises to 15; vaccination recommended
(2004-02-05)
+Solana: EU ready to lift China arms embargo
(2004-02-05)
+Nation tops TV, cell phone, monitor production
(2004-02-05)
+Absence ... still makes China hot
(2004-02-05)
+Hu: Developing world in key role
(2004-02-04)
+WHO: Bird flu death rises to 15; vaccination recommended
(2004-02-05)
+Solana: EU ready to lift China arms embargo
(2004-02-05)
+US court clears way for gay marriages
(2004-02-05)
+Pakistan nuke scientist asks forgiveness
(2004-02-05)
+Sharon ready for referendum on scrapping settlements
(2004-02-05)
   
  Go to Another Section  
     
 
 
     
  Article Tools  
     
 
 
     
   
        .contact us |.about us
  Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved  
主站蜘蛛池模板: 男女视频免费看 | 狼伊千合综网中文 | 99在线免费观看视频 | 国产成人久久综合二区 | 日本一区二区高清免费不卡 | 国内久久精品视频 | 99精品观看 | 精品久久久视频 | 国产成在线观看免费视频 | 国产成人精品三级91在线影院 | 成人做爰网站免费看 | 在线综合+亚洲+欧美中文字幕 | 成人久久精品一区二区三区 | 国产男女爽爽爽免费视频 | 中文字幕一级片 | 免费看又黄又爽又猛的网站 | 国产成人精品高清在线观看99 | 性欧美一级毛片 | 欧美性妇| 看毛片的网址 | 久久久久久久免费 | 欧美日韩精品一区三区 | 曰韩三级 | 久草福利资源在线观看 | 久久视频在线免费观看 | 精品国产亚一区二区三区 | 久久在线免费观看视频 | 日韩欧美成人乱码一在线 | 99久久精品国产片久人 | 高清一区二区三区四区五区 | 国产精品反差婊在线观看 | 久久免费视频7 | 国产亚洲精品一区二区 | 精品日韩欧美一区二区三区在线播放 | 黄色毛片国产 | 中文字幕亚洲精品第一区 | xh98hx国产在线视频 | 国内自拍在线 | 一区二区国产在线观看 | 在线免费一级片 | 国产精品久久久久久久福利院 |