Countries step up bird flu battle
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-14 15:23

Rich donors promised to step up the cash flow for fighting bird flu on Friday, with the World Bank saying $1.4 billion is needed, the European Union pledging $100 million, and the U.S. sending a team of experts to Turkey to fight a growing outbreak there.

Turkey culled more birds to try to stop the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus from spreading further, as did some worried neighbors.

A bird perches on a stick held by its keeper in a park in Nanjing, capital of China's Jiangsu province, January 11, 2006. REUTERS/China Daily

Roche AG, maker of Tamiflu, the best known drug defense against flu, said it would donate more antiviral pills to Asia, the epicenter of the health threat. Turkish doctors expressed hope that early use of the drug was helping save some of the young victims of the virus.

The World Bank said global financial costs to prepare for and respond to outbreaks of bird flu will be between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion, with most money needed in East Asia and the Pacific region, followed by Europe and Central Asia and then Africa.

Cash will be needed for animal and human health alike, as well as the building of drug stockpiles to treat victims of the virus, which still mostly affects birds but which has infected about 150 people and killed at least 78.

The human victims of the disease had all been in East Asia until the recent outbreak in Turkey brought the virus to the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Three infected children died last week in eastern Turkey and 15 more people have tested positive. Authorities are testing whether a four-year-old girl who died Friday was infected.

TWO CHILDREN RELEASED

At least two children, including eight-year-old Sumeyye Mamuk, were discharged from a hospital in Van, eastern Turkey, on Thursday after being treated with Tamiflu.

"She has completely recovered. This is a success for us," Van hospital Dr. Ahmed Faik Oner told Reuters.

Like so many other children, Sumeyye apparently became infected while trying to comfort a sick chicken.

Two people were admitted to hospital in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir for tests after showing "suspicious" symptoms. The disease has struck poultry in the area.

Turkey's Agriculture Ministry said almost 600,000 poultry had been culled across the country over the past two weeks.

Newspapers say the authorities may offer 5 lira ($3) per chicken, 15 ($9) lira per goose and duck and 20 lira ($12) per turkey as compensation.

"Our sales of white meat have plunged 80 percent in the last couple of days. People are avoiding chicken. They choose other dishes instead," said Van egg producer Resat Baytar.

WARY NEIGHBOURS

Iran started culling thousands of birds along its border with Turkey to try to stop the disease from spreading.

France said it was extending its poultry confinement measures to 58 departments from an original 26 as fears grow over a virus believed to be carried by migratory birds.

Romania, just across the Black Sea from Turkey, boosted disinfection measures on major roads and introduced luggage checks at airports, train stations and sea ports.

The H5N1 virus has been found in poultry in 26 Romanian villages since October but no human cases of the disease have been seen there.

Tamiflu maker Roche told a bird flu conference in Tokyo it was in talks with the World Health Organization about donating more Tamiflu to set up an Asian stockpile.

Health officials at the Tokyo meeting, attended by more than 20 countries, called for greater surveillance and urged richer countries to help poorer ones achieve that.

Announcing the EU aid worth $100 million at a news conference in Brussels, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said "I am optimistic we are going to close the financial gap" at an international donors' conference to be held in Beijing next week.

The United States said it was sending a team of animal and human health experts to Turkey "to assess the avian flu situation there," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. They will join experts already on hand from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.