|
|
|
|
Bird flu fears hit
tsunami-wrecked region
By
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - As South
and Southeast Asia struggle to deal with the
mounting death toll after the devastating Indian
Ocean tsunami, another killer - bird flu -
has eared its ugly head in some parts of the
region.
The lethal avian flu has left nine
dead in Vietnam since the beginning of the year.
The latest victim of the H5N1 virus, who succumbed
on January 15, was a 17-year-old boy from
Vietnam's southern Bac Lieu province. That raised
to 29 the number of people who have died in that
Southeast Asian country since the region was hit
by the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus at the end
of 2003.
Thailand, where 12 people perished
from the virus in the past year, also confirmed
the presence of bird flu in two provinces this
month - but the virus was only confined to
poultry. In the eastern province of Rayong, the
country's Livestock Department has identified the
virus in 20 fighting cocks. A further 50 chickens
were detected with the disease in the central
province of Phitsanulok.
Thailand's deputy
premier Chaturon Chaisaeng said on Monday that the
government committee supervising attempts to
control the deadly virus had devised a
multi-million-dollar, three-year strategy aimed at
saving lives in the event of a massive outbreak.
Hanoi's response to the spread of bird flu
also suggests that danger lies ahead. On Tuesday,
the Vietnamese government imposed a ban on all
imports of poultry to reduce the possibility of
further deaths from bird flu in the
communist-ruled country. So far, nearly one-third
of the country's 64 provinces have been infected
with the virus and the state-run Vietnam News
Agency reported that more than 250,000 birds have
been culled to contain the infection.
The
specter of the lethal flu becoming more virulent -
triggering a virus that could be transmitted from
human to human - has been a cause for concern,
given the gene structure of the H5N1 virus and its
capacity to mutate rapidly. Vietnamese officials,
however, said there was no evidence of
human-to-human transmission in the cases it has
seen.
"Of the 15 avian influenza virus
subtypes, H5N1 is of particular concern for
several reasons," the World Health Organization
stated over the weekend. "H5N1 mutates rapidly and
has a documented propensity to acquire genes from
viruses infecting other animals."
The
United Nations' Geneva-based health agency also
warned that "laboratory studies have demonstrated
that isolates from this virus have a high
pathogenicity and can cause severe disease in
humans".
Last January, soon after reports
of the first outbreak of bird flu in Southeast
Asia, the UN agency raised the alarm that if the
bird-flu virus mutates into a form that can spread
easily among people, it could spark a global
pandemic that could kill millions. The fears were
exacerbated because the human immune system lacks
the capacity to fend off a potential new virus and
because a potent vaccine does not exist to
inoculate people from the disease.
Despite
these fears, there is no sign that the virus had
mutated in either Thailand or Vietnam.
According to officials at the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), the avian-flu
virus in Southeast Asia needs closer monitoring in
order to further understand the character of the
virus and the "dynamics of the disease".
"There has been a drift in the virus
in January 2005 when compared to what it was
in January 2004," Juan Lubroth, senior officer at
the FAO's animal-health division, told Inter Press
Service, referring to the changes that take place in
the virus over a period of time. "This is the case
throughout the region," he said.
Besides
Vietnam and Thailand, other Southeast Asian
countries where bird flu had been detected ahead
of the current winter season are Cambodia,
Malaysia and Indonesia. The first outbreak at the
beginning of last year was detected in eight Asian
countries, including China. More than 100 million
chickens were culled during that initial outbreak
in an effort to contain the virus.
The
December 26 tsunami, which ravaged the coast of 12
countries on the Indian Ocean, killing more than
200,000 people and leaving millions displaced, has
added another worrying dimension in the quest to
contain bird flu.
It stems from the
destruction of the infrastructure used to monitor
the spread of avian influenza being destroyed by
the tsunami in Indonesia's northern Aceh province,
the worst-hit area, where over 150,000 people
died. What is more, Aceh is within the path of
migratory birds identified last year as being
possible carriers of the avian-flu virus.
The Rome-based food agency is also
concerned about contaminated food entering Aceh's
food supply chain in the current effort to supply
the millions who have to depend on massive food
aid for their survival.
"The instability
and food shortages creates a vacuum, and an influx
of food and animals is needed," said Lubroth.
"Under this scenario there is a risk that avian
influenza could spread to areas where it had not
been reported before.
"Likewise,
government veterinary services, in trying to
address the needs of a nation, may not be in the
position to handle prevention measures required to
halt the spread of the disease," said
Lubroth, senior officer at the FAO's animal-health
division.
Last year, close to 16 million
chickens died or were culled in Indonesia due to
bird flu, but none in the devastated region of
Aceh.
(Inter Press
Service) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
0„8 Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
Asian Sex Gazette Southeast Asian Sex News
|
|
|
