Bird flu pandemic ‘inevitable’ without investment
Rich nations must invest in fighting bird flu to prevent a pandemic that could kill millions of people, World Health Organisation (WHO) scientists have warned.
They want a strategy to be put in place to help prevent the current strain of the flu mutating into a virus that could spread between humans – a potentially catastrophic development.
WHO regional spokesman Peter Cordingley told a United Nations meeting in Malaysia: “We don’t know what the fatality will be. We can expect it to be very high.
“There will be enormous economic dislocation. Stock markets will close, international travel and trade will be limited. We can’t put a figure on this, but Sars in fact will be dwarfed by a flu pandemic if one happens.”
The meeting heard that south-east Asian countries are currently doing their best to contain and limit the virus but that without funding from rich western countries, a pandemic is inevitable.
