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NewsAsia, 5 Sep 05 Bird flu risks spreading to Europe and beyond after ravaging Asia BANGKOK : The bird flu virus that has leapt to Russia and Kazakhstan after causing deaths and huge economic losses in Asia risks spreading further, borne by migratory birds criss-crossing the globe, experts say. Wild birds are widely responsible for spreading avian influenza far beyond its epicentre in the backyard farms of Asia, where the mingling of species gives virologists nightmares about the risk of mutation into a far deadlier form. And once deposited in a country, courtesy of the annual migrations which take flocks of birds from Asia to the north during the European summer, the H5N1 strain moves among poultry with ease. "Birds play a role in the primary infection of the country, but then after that there's no need for wildlife. It will spread very easily from one village to another through trade," said Joseph Domenech, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's chief vet. "Given that it is a highly contagious disease, we were sure it could spread from one region to another, either through wildlife or through trade and movements of products. So this happened and we are not surprised at all." Asia has been battling bird flu since late 2003, with vaccination campaigns and massive culls of tens of millions of chickens and ducks that have decimated poultry industries, particularly in Thailand and Vietnam. While sporadic outbreaks continue to emerge in Asia, attention has now shifted to the discovery of the virus in poultry in parts of Russia and Kazakhstan, raising fears it will cross the Urals mountain chain into Europe. The alarm has already been raised in western Europe, and French President Jacques Chirac has called for a strong international response to the new threat, warning it could develop into a major health crisis. Domenech said that the risk of avian influenza creeping that far in the next few months is low, but that each time birds fly back and forth across the globe the risks of contagion at the avian "crossroads" increases. "If the virus is coming from wildlife, then next year or the year after it could happen that it goes to western Europe," he said. The virus threatens to contaminate all the migratory paths, bringing the disease to Africa, South Asia and the Middle East as well, he said. "We don't want to panic, we don't want to say there will be a massive infection, but recent events are obliging us to say that the risk exists and it must be monitored and surveillance must be put in place." Domenech said Europe has more weapons at its disposal to fend off bird flu than Asia, and a developed agricultural system that is easier to defend. But it also has a lot to lose in a financial sense. "We are very worried. If it comes to countries like those in western Europe it could be a very severe economic disaster," he said, listing poultry export bans and expensive changes in farming methods as among the fallout. The Netherlands, one of the biggest European chicken producers, has already ordered poultry be kept inside in the hope of avoiding a repeat of a flu epidemic two years ago which nearly wiped out the country's stock. Apart from the economic threat, the spread of H5N1 also poses a hazard to human health, by increasing the chances of a mutation that could create a pandemic capable of killing tens of millions. Bird flu has killed 62 people in Asia in the past two years, including 43 in Vietnam. "The farther this virus is being spread, the more opportunity it has to infect humans," said Dick Thompson, spokesman of the Geneva-based World Health Organisation. "And when that happens there's also the possibility of re-assortment with a human influenza virus and what we are concerned about in that case is that what might emerge is a pandemic virus able to jump easily from one person to another." Thompson said the emergence of bird flu in Europe has created a sense of alarm, but that wherever a pandemic erupts, it would circulate around the globe with deadly effect in a few months anyway. "In fact people in Europe are as threatened by pandemic influenza should it emerge and begin spreading from Southeast Asia, as if the pandemic emerged in Kazakhstan," he said. - AFP/de links Related articles on Global issues: bird flu issues, polices, impact |
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