As the Western Pacific Regional meeting of the World Health Organization started today in Noumea, public health officials from more than 20 countries gathered to discuss ways to prevent a possible deadly outbreak of bird flu in humans and contain some other possible large epidemics.
The participants will focus on a strategy for containing emerging diseases in the Asia Pacific region, including human infections
from bird flu, Japanese encephalitis,that has already killed nearly 1,000 people in South Asia, AIDS and tuberculosis.
They all unanimously agree that a recently-evolved avian flu virus, Influenza A (H5N1), has one small genetic adjustment to make before it becomes transmissible between humans. If this change occurs, the virus may lead to the largest epidemic the world has ever seen. The H5N1 virus is currently the greatest cause for concern. It has been known for some time, but it has recently caused unexpected extensive epidemics in domestic bird populations and, as a result, humans are being more readily exposed to the deadly virus.
Since H5N1 first infected humans through direct contact with infected birds in Hong Kong in 1997, it has resulted in a significant number of infections and deaths throughout South East Asia.
The high mortality rate is attributed to the human population's lack of immunity to the virus. Never having been exposed to the virus before, humans are highly susceptible to infection and readily succumb to it.
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