FAO seriously concerned about the spread of Avi an flu in East Asia

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Media-Office

Thursday, January 15, 2004 10:06 AM

FAO NEWS RELEASE: FAO seriously concerned about the spread

of Avi an flu in East Asia

 

FAONEWSRELEASE 04/5e

 

FAO Newsroom: http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/

Contact: Erwin Northoff, Information Officer, FAO

erwin.northoff, (+39) 06 570 53105

 

FAO seriously concerned about the spread of Avian flu in East Asia

 

 

South Korea, Vietnam and Japan affected - team of experts sent to

Vietnam

 

 

 

 

Rome, 15 January 2004 -- FAO today expressed serious concern about

the spread of Avian flu in East Asia.

 

" The disease seems to have a regional dimension, with South-Korea,

Vietnam and Japan being affected in a short period of time, " FAO said

in a statement.

 

" Possible links between these outbreaks must be investigated. If

there are such links, the epidemiological reasons must be

elucidated. "

 

Vietnam declared an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

H5N1 in the southern part of the country last week. The Office

International des Epizooties (OIE) in Paris, the World Health

Organization (WHO) and FAO were immediately informed.

 

Vietnam rapidly applied appropriate control measures such as the

killing of several hundred thousands of chickens, disinfection,

quarantine, control of animal movements, and general surveys.

 

New outbreaks

 

Despite these measures, the situation continues to give cause for

concern, with possible new outbreaks in Vietnam, FAO said. In

addition, human cases of Avian flu have been confirmed.

 

Avian Influenza is a very serious disease of domestic birds,

particularly chickens and ducks. It appears more and more frequently

all over the world (in Hong Kong in 1997/98, in the Netherlands and

South-Korea in 2003).

 

The virus reservoir is the bird wildlife and there is no method

available to control it.

 

The disease causes considerable economic losses, due to the bird

mortality, mass killing of domestic birds and other control measures.

Outbreaks affect the livelihood of thousands of farmers relying on

chicken production.

 

Avian flu and humans

 

Avian flu rarely affects humans. To be contaminated, a direct contact

between humans and birds is needed. During an outbreak in Hong Kong

in 1997, 6 deaths out of 18 cases occurred; in the Netherlands in

2003, 83 cases occurred and one person died.

 

In Vietnam so far, the authorities have declared 14 cases of severe

respiratory disease in Hanoi, and 11 people have died. Three of these

cases were confirmed as Avian flu victims.

 

There is still no evidence to date of human-to-human transmission but

this matter has to be treated very seriously, FAO said.

 

If the number of infected people increases, the probability of a new

virus strain evolving from an exchange between human influenza and

Avian flu genomes needs to be carefully examined.

 

Prevention comes first

 

To stamp out the disease, all infected animals have to be killed. In

addition, disinfection, quarantine and a ban on the movement of

domestic birds have to be put in place.

 

People working on farms or participating in eradication programmes

such as the culling of sick birds, should avoid close contacts with

the animals and should wear protective clothing.

 

FAO is sending an expert to Vietnam, as requested by the government,

to join the WHO/FAO/OIE expert team to investigate the problem and to

set up necessary control and rehabilitation measures.

 

On a long term basis, prevention relies on veterinary and human

health surveillance, including an early warning and a rapid response.