CHINA: Health experts meeting in Beijing yesterday tried to generate a $1.4 billion (€1.15 billion) fund to fight bird flu as Indonesia said a toddler who died may be the latest victim of the virus.
Underscoring the need for urgent action, Indonesia's health ministry said a three-year-old boy who died yesterday was being tested for bird flu. His 13-year-old sister died a few days ago and initial tests showed she had the H5N1 virus.
Turkey said it was treating another child for bird flu, the 21st human case there since the start of the month. The outbreak in Turkey has brought the disease from east Asia closer to Europe and the Middle East.
The infected child comes from the town of Dogubayazit, close to the Iranian border and home to four Turkish children killed by the virus.
Experts fear the virus will spread further unless money is provided to improve veterinary services and animal surveillance.
"There is a significant shortfall of funds in many affected countries . . . which will seriously hamper their prevention and control efforts," Qiao Zonghuai, Chinese vice-foreign minister, told the donors' conference in Beijing.
"In the fight against avian influenza, no country can stay safe by looking the other way," he said.
Bird flu has killed at least 79 people since 2003, according to the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) tally, which does not include some of the most recent cases reported in Turkey and Indonesia. Victims contract the virus through direct contact with infected birds.
While difficult for people to catch, nearly 150 people are known to have been infected by H5N1 in six countries, killing more than half its victims, a death rate that reinforced fears about the havoc the virus could wreak if a pandemic occurs.
"It is going more and more towards the western part of the world," Food and Agriculture Organisation chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenech said.
The World Bank estimates that between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion will be needed to prepare for and respond to outbreaks.
The bank has estimated that a bird flu pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion.
A senior WHO official told delegates the risks from a bird flu pandemic were great.
"Timing is unpredictable and the severity is uncertain," Margaret Chan, the WHO's top pandemic expert, told the conference, attended by delegates from 89 countries and more than 20 international organisations.
The bank approved a $500 million line of credit last week towards the $1.2 billion target and the European Union has pledged $100 million in aid.