Geneva – Countries around the world need to start rehearsing plans for tackling a human flu pandemic to identify hidden obstacles and ensure the best response once the virus arrives, the World Health Organization said Monday.
Health experts at the first major international coordination meeting on bird flu and human flu urged countries that haven’t done so to draw up plans for handling an inevitable new pandemic, which the World Bank estimated could result in more than $800 billion in lost gross domestic product over a single year.
Experts agree a global flu outbreak capable of killing millions of people is a certainty.
What is also certain, scientists say, is that the virus will come from bird flu. But what is unknown is whether the H5N1 strain that has ravaged poultry stocks in parts of Asia and spread through Eastern Europe will be the culprit.
It is the leading candidate, however, and authorities are trying to stamp out poultry outbreaks as rapidly as possible to reduce opportunities for the virus to mutate into a form that can pass easily between people and spread worldwide. Currently, the virus is hard for people to catch, and most deaths have been linked to human handling of infected poultry.
The WHO has been urging countries to draw up pandemic flu plans for almost a decade, but many did not act until the bird- flu outbreak in Asia became an apparent threat.
Six months ago, fewer than 40 countries had a strategy, said Dr. Mike Ryan, director of epidemic and pandemic alert and response at WHO. Now, 120 countries have planned responses.
