"World" Not Ready For Pandemic

[Annie]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/69bf44ac-8a85-11d9-9059-00000e2511c8.html

World is not ready for a flu pandemic
By Andrew Jack in London
Published: March 1 2005 21:57 | Last updated: March 1 2005 21:57

The world is poorly prepared for a future influenza pandemic, with only a dozen countries purchasing significant quantities of antiviral drugs and just 50 with contingency plans on how to cope with such an outbreak.

A Financial Times analysis on the eve of a World Health Organisation meeting on preparing for a pandemic shows widely differing approaches between countries that already have plans, and a sharp divide between richer countries and many poorer nations, creating splits that could hinder efforts to curb disease.

The analysis comes as concern rises about the likelihood of a pandemic linked to widespread outbreaks of bird flu in south east Asia, which have killed at least 42 people.

The WHO, which meets in Luxembourg on Wednesday with 52 countries from the European region, estimates that up to 8m people could be killed and 30m could be hospitalised by a pandemic.

Klaus Stöhr, WHO global influenza co-ordinator, said a dozen countries led by Australia, Canada, France, the US and Sweden had bought strategic stockpiles of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, while Singapore and Thailand have bought smaller amounts. Most of the developing world including other Asian countries on the frontline of the bird flu outbreak is well behind.

The UK on Tuesday became the latest to upgrade its contingency plan, pledging to spend about £200m ($385m) over two years to increase its stockpiles of Tamiflu from 100,000 to 15m treatments.

Tamiflu is the only widely commercialised treatment which has proved to be effective in reducing the severity of flu symptoms and acting as a prophylactic, although it is untested against new flu pandemic strains.

Roche, its Swiss-based manufacturer, confirmed it had only received a dozen firm orders. It said talks were under way with a number of other countries and it was already expanding its manufacturing capacity, but it would need more commitments to make additional investments.

Mr Stöhr said only about 50 countries had national flu pandemic plans to co-ordinate their response, and that they vary widely in terms of how recently they have been revised, their quality and their length from a single sheet of paper to 400 pages. Almost a dozen companies have recently signalled to the WHO their interest in producing pandemic flu vaccines, but are waiting for clearer funding commitment from governments. A vaccine cannot be produced until the precise strain that causes a pandemic has been identified, but scientists are trying to simulate a bird flu virus and develop methods to step up production very quickly.

John Reid, the UK health secretary, on Tuesday ruled out providing funds for antiviral purchases abroad to help other countries fight a flu pandemic, saying the British government's development assistance in this area had been focused on reinforcing surveillance in south east Asia.

 

[onedomino]

It is good to call attention to this developing problem. Those interested in this story, may also find this thread infectious: http://www.usmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18246. Also, this CDC link on "emergent diseases:" http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - stay away from dem sneezin' monkeys like onna Letterman show...

WHO: World Must Not Miss Early Signals of Any Flu Pandemic
January 23, 2017 — The World Health Organization called on all countries on Monday to monitor closely outbreaks of deadly avian influenza in birds and poultry and to report promptly any human cases that could signal the start of a flu pandemic.

Different strains of bird flu have been spreading across Europe and Asia since late last year, leading to large-scale slaughtering of poultry in certain countries and some human deaths in China. Experts fear the virus could mutate to spread more easily among people. Nearly 40 countries have reported new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry or wild birds since November, according to the WHO. "The rapidly expanding geographical distribution of these outbreaks and the number of virus strains currently co-circulating have put WHO on high alert," Margaret Chan told the start of the U.N. agency's executive board. The world is better prepared for the next influenza pandemic - following the H1N1 "mild" pandemic in 2009-2010 - "but not at all well enough", she said.

Chan said that under an agreement with drug makers, in return for countries sharing virus samples from which a pandemic vaccine would be derived, WHO is promised 350 million doses of vaccine for distribution. "We cannot allow so many countries to be without tools," Chan later told Reuters. "Remember, it takes four to six months to get the vaccine." China has had a "sudden and steep increase" in human cases of H7N9 since December and the WHO has not been able to rule out limited human-to-human spread in two clusters of cases although no sustained spread has been detected thus far, she said.

Officials in protective gears cull chickens in the snow at a poultry farm after a highly virulent strain of bird flu was detected in Yamagata in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan​

Under the International Health Regulations, WHO's 194 member states are required to detect and report human cases promptly, Chan said, adding: "We cannot afford to miss the early signals." China's delegation, led by Zhang Yang of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told the meeting China would carry out its obligations on communicating and responding to any outbreaks. "Currently H7N9 overall statistics remain the same," Zhang said. "China will continue to strengthen its cooperation and exchange with WHO in this regard."

David Nabarro, an international public health expert and one of six candidates to succeed Chan in the top WHO post, said that addressing the threat of avian flu jumping the barrier to pose a serious threat to humans was a "central priority". "This group of viruses are persistent in moving between wild birds and poultry. We should always have a good high guard and never be complacent," Nabarro, a former U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, told Reuters.

WHO: World Must Not Miss Early Signals of Any Flu Pandemic

 

[strollingbones]

add to this the lady just dying after all 26 antibiotics failed....