February 28, 2005
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Asia Times
BANGKOK - A year after triggering alarm bells across Asia, the lethal bird-flu virus is showing little signs of slowing down, consequently forcing health and food experts to concede that the disease will persist for years in the region. That prognosis, made at a just-concluded international meeting on bird flu in Vietnam, is also expected to shake up distinct features of Asian societies, such as the ubiquitous wet markets that abound in small towns and even major cities, like Bangkok.
In these open markets that are a favorite draw, fresh vegetables and fruits are sold along with live poultry and freshly slaughtered chickens. In some markets, the meat section includes animals and birds from the wild.
Also vulnerable in this age of bird flu is another slice of life common in rural parts of Asia - free-ranging farming, where chickens and ducks are raised in open backyard farms and, at times, in close proximity to pigs and other animals.
At the bird-flu meeting, which ran from Wednesday to Friday last week in Ho Chi Minh City, leading public health experts came close to calling for an overhaul of such environments in favor of secure and hygienic options for the breeding and sale of poultry.
"We should examine the risk from dangerous agricultural practices, such as raising chickens, ducks, pigs and other animals together - often in unsanitary conditions and normally with no barriers between them and humans," Dr Shigeru Omi, head of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Western Pacific division, told the conference.
"Another example is wet markets, where animals that would not normally encounter each other in the wild are kept in close proximity to each other and are often slaughtered on the spot - normally with very little regard for hygiene," he added.
The call to re-examine such practices arises from the deadly avian-flu virus being transmitted in places where free-range chickens abound. Initially it was suspected that migratory birds - on their annual flight to summer resting grounds from their winter homelands - were responsible for the spread of the virus that swept through Asia last year.
"Current evidence suggests that trade in live poultry, mixing of avian species on farms and at live bird markets, and poor biosecurity in poultry production contribute much more to disease spread than wild bird movements," Samuel Jutzi, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Animal Production and Health Division, told the conference.
According to the FAO, nearly 140 million birds have been culled or died due to avian flu over the past year in Asian countries where the virus has become endemic. These countries include Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China and Cambodia.
The message from the conference, together with a plea made by Asian delegates for the global community to fund the battle against bird flu in the region, points to a new level of worry shared by those on the frontlines to combat the lethal virus.
Chief veterinary officers from 28 Asian countries that attended the Ho Chi Minh City meeting said that US$100 million would be needed in the fight against bird flu. "Many countries affected by bird flu have limited capacity to control the virus. They lack effective diagnostic tools and surveillance systems that are essential for early warning and timely response," stated an FAO press release.
The urgent need for such funds - last year donors only gave $18 million to fight bird flu - was underscored on the eve of the meeting in Vietnam, when a leading US public health expert said that bird flu posed the "most important threat" the world is currently facing.
At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr Julie Gerberding, director of the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the lethal bird-flu virus had given rise to "a very ominous situation for the globe".
There are emerging parallels between the 1918 influenza pandemic and the current spread of bird flu, she said. The fear is that the virus will mutate in such a way that it becomes easier to pass from human to human, without losing any of its lethal force.
The 1918 pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, followed the path of its human carriers along trade routes and shipping lines. Outbreaks swept through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Brazil and the South Pacific.
Bird flu has killed 46 people - 33 in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and one in Cambodia - since an outbreak swept though Asia at the beginning of 2004. The victims contracted the disease after coming into contact with infected chickens or consuming contaminated poultry meat.
Although the bird-flu-related deaths may appear numerically insignificant, health experts point to worrying signs that such a limited toll concedes. For one, more than 70% of those infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu have died. The other is that the human immune system lacks the capacity to combat a virus that may stem from bird flu.
Almost a year ago, the WHO pointed out that the lethal bird-flu virus had the potential to mutate into one that could be passed from human to human. That fear has been compounded by the fact that the world still lacks a potent vaccine to insulate people from the disease.
According to the WHO's Omi, influenza pandemics occur every 20 to 30 years. "The last pandemic was nearly 40 years ago, so, by this measure, one is now overdue," he said. The last large flu outbreak in 1968 - the Hong Kong flu - killed around 34,000 people globally.
(Inter Press Service)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GC01Ae01.html