A warning has been issued by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with regard to the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
At a meeting in Rome of international bird flu experts the UN agency has said that despite the significant improvement in global response to the H5N1 virus over the past few years, the virus remains entrenched in several countries and will continue to spread.
Joseph Domenech, the FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer, says the virus had been rapidly detected, controlled or eliminated in some 15 countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East where it had appeared in the last six months.
Domenech says most affected countries have been very open about new outbreaks and were taking the H5N1 threat seriously, are better prepared and have improved their response systems.
He says however there was no room for complacency, and a potential human influenza pandemic cannot be ruled out as long as the virus continues to exist in poultry.
Domenech referred to recent H5N1 outbreaks in Bangladesh, Ghana, Togo, Czech Republic and Germany as a clear reminder that the virus is spreading to new countries and re-appearing in previously infected countries.
He is particularly concerned about the situation in Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria and says bird flu is an event the international community will have to live with for years.
Domenech says improvements are needed in poultry markets in places such as Indonesia where infected birds are routinely mixed up with healthy ones, putting the entire stock at risk.