Australia all set to tackle bird flu

According to a senior veterinary expert speaking at a meeting in Rome hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE), Australia is one of only a few countries well prepared for an outbreak of bird flu in it's poultry population.

The recent cluster of the virus in Indonesia has the whole world on the edge of panic and Australia is of course a relatively close neighbour.

The disease remains primarily one of birds but nevertheless it has been responsible for the deaths of 127 people in 10 countries around the world since it re-emerged in Asia in late 2003, as well as the deaths of enormous numbers of birds and poultry.

The recent Indonesian cases where 8 in one family died from the virus, has raised concern because of the fear the virus is about to mutate into one that spreads easily among people and will trigger a pandemic, killing millions.

FAO's head of emergency prevention system, Juan Lubroth says Australia is in a good position to respond adequately should the virus appear there in poultry.

Indonesia is a particular worry because of the steady rise in its number of human infections and deaths since its first known outbreak of H5N1 in chickens in late 2003; to date 49 people have been infected and 36 of them have died.

Lubroth says the Australian government has already had experience in dealing with trans-boundary animal diseases and though it has not been hit by the deadly H5N1 virus, the country has had outbreaks of other types of bird flu in the past.

Lubroth says Australia was less vulnerable to the spread of bird flu by wild birds, because migratory birds such as ducks and geese known to have carried the H5N1 virus, do not fly to Australia and New Zealand.

According to the European Commission and the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, UK, over 700 wild birds across 13 EU states have been found to be infected with the H5N1 virus since February 2006.

The good news was the CRL also said there was a decline in the incidence of the disease in wild birds in Europe over the past weeks.

However some scientists say the role of wild birds in the spreading of bird flu around the world is still unclear and should not be assumed.

They say though wild birds may be a useful indicator of the presence of bird flu in an area, their role in spreading bird flu is unknown and one a dead swan on the coast does not necessarily indicate that bird flu is being brought in by wild swans.

Most scientists agree that migrating birds have a part to play in the spread of bird flu but they also believe that several factors influence the spread of the virus.

They believe the poultry industry plays a major role in the spread of H5N1 and are advising the vaccination of all farmed poultry stocks.

Vaccination programmes would be particularly appropriate in poor countries where culling poultry has huge economic implications.

The scientists emphasise that agencies need to focus on African countries as the virus has the potential to become endemic there and carry on infecting the bird and poultry population for years to come.

Experts say if bird flu outbreaks are to be effectively controlled, detection and response must to be swift.

Most of Asia and Europe have managed to detect and respond quickly and it is vital that Africa does the same.