Home>News Center>World
         
 

WHO warns of a world-wide bird flu epedemic
(IHT.com)
Updated: 2005-09-17 15:16

As World Health Organization officials repeated warnings about the potential for a deadly bird flu pandemic and President George W. Bush proposed an "international partnership" to combat the disease, wealthier countries around the world are redoubling efforts to purchase an experimental vaccine and antiviral drugs in the hopes of protecting their own citizens from infection.
WHO warns of a world-wide bird flu epedemic
A Vietnamese poultry seller displays ducks for sale at a wholesale poultry market in Hanoi, Vietnam, August 9, 2005. [Reuters]
"We cannot afford to face the pandemic unprepared," said Lee Jong Wook, director of the WHO, at the United Nations on Thursday.

The UN agency and the European Union have been urging countries for months to prepare for the possibility of a future human pandemic caused by the bird flu virus, even as they have acknowledged that there is no current risk: The virus, A(H5N1), which has killed millions of birds, only rarely infects humans and does not normally spread from person to person - a basic requirement for human epidemics.

But scientists are worried that it could someday acquire that ability through one of several biological processes. Faced with the unprecedented damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, calls for better disaster planning against disease seem to have taken on new urgency.

This week, the United States announced that it had placed an order for $100 million worth of a promising but still technically unlicensed vaccine that is under development by the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis.

Italy announced that it had contracted to order 35 million doses of vaccine and other medicines.

Roche Pharmaceuticals was struggling to fill huge recent orders from 30 jurisdictions for antiviral drugs, said Martina Rupp, a spokeswoman for the company, based in Basel, Switzerland. These include Australia, France, England, Singapore and South Korea, as well as Hong Kong.

   上一页 1 2 3 下一页  



USS Park Royal crew await for Rice
Coffin of Milosevic flew to Belgrade
Kidnapping spree in Gaza Strip
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Australia, US, Japan praise China for Asia engagement

 

   
 

Banker: China doing its best on flexible yuan

 

   
 

Hopes high for oil pipeline deal

 

   
 

Possibilities of bird flu outbreaks reduced

 

   
 

Milosevic buried after emotional farewell

 

   
 

China considers trade contracts in India

 

   
  Journalist's alleged killers held in Iraq
   
  No poisons found in Milosevic's body
   
  US, Britain, France upbeat on Iran agreement
   
  Fatah officials call for Abbas to resign
   
  Sectarian violence increases in Iraq
   
  US support for troops in Iraq hits new low
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Bird flu outbreak in Qinghai an 'isolated' case
   
New vaccines developed to stop bird flu
   
China: Foot-and-mouth disease under control
   
Nation ready as bird flu outbreak is stemmed
   
Nation ready as bird flu outbreak is stemmed
   
Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Xinjiang
   
Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Xinjiang
   
'Misuse of antiviral on poultry must stop'
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement