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World's Pandemic Fighters to Gather in Geneva, Worry
Grows of Bird Flu in Africa
UK asks for bids on 120 million vaccine doses, in US
surgical mask in demand
 Oct. 19, 2005 While world leaders in the fight
against avian flu prepare for a summit in early November, there is
increasing worry of the bird flus spread to Africa, and the UK is
asking for pandemic vaccine providers to bid on providing that country
with 120 million doses. And, a distributor of surgical face masks used
to avoid the flu says it is struggling to keep up with the U.S. demand.
The meeting of international pandemic fighters will
be November 7-9 in Geneva at the headquarters of the World Health
Organization, who is sponsoring the meeting along with the Food and
Agriculture Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health and
the World Bank. WHO is also the lead international organization in the
fight against avian flu and a possible pandemic.
After the confirmed outbreaks of avian influenza in
Romania and Turkey the risk of bird flu spreading to the Middle East and
African countries has markedly increased, says one of the meeting
sponsors, the FAO of the United Nations.
"The detection of bird flu in Romania and Turkey,
following outbreaks in Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, confirms FAO's
recent warning that the virus is spreading along the pathways of
migratory birds outside southeast Asia," said Joseph Domenech, FAO's
Chief Veterinary Officer. "Wild birds seem to be one of the main avian
influenza carriers, but more research is urgently needed to fully
understand their role in spreading the virus."
Both Romania and Turkey have swiftly responded to
the recent outbreaks, FAO said. "These countries should be able to
contain the virus soon."
"One of our major concerns is now the potential
spread of avian influenza through migratory birds to northern and
eastern Africa," Domenech warned. "There is serious risk that this
scenario may become a reality."
"The Middle East and northern African countries
should be able to build up a line of defense against avian influenza.
FAO is more concerned about the situation in Eastern Africa, where
veterinary services, due to various constraints, should have more
difficulties to run efficient bird flu campaigns based on slaughtering
infected animals and vaccination," Domenech said. "The countries
concerned and the international community have to make every effort to
ensure that bird flu does not become endemic in Africa."
"If the virus were to become endemic in eastern
Africa, it could increase the risk of the virus to evolve through
mutation or reassortment into a strain that could be transmitted to and
between humans," Domenech said. "The close proximity between people and
animals and insufficient surveillance and disease control capacities in
eastern African countries create an ideal breeding ground for the virus.
The countries urgently need international assistance to build up basic
surveillance and control systems."
FAO will assist countries in Africa to strengthen
the surveillance on wild and domestic birds and improve laboratory
capacities in order to early detect any bird flu outbreak.
The bird flu risk to European countries due to wild
birds is relatively low at present, according to FAO. However, there is
a significant risk that migratory birds could carry the disease to
western and northern Europe next spring if wild bird populations are
infected during their stay in southern regions. Veterinary services in
Europe are very efficient and strong surveillance and disease control
measures are in place to face this risk.
"It is crucial to remind that the epicentre of the
disease currently remains in southeast Asia where the virus continues to
circulate in several countries and where a pandemic could finally start
if the control of the disease in animals is not successful," Domenech
said.
In the UK, Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam
Donaldson today announced that the Department of Health is inviting
manufacturers to bid for a contract to supply pandemic flu vaccine once
the pandemic strain is known. The UK will need approximately 120 million
doses to be available as soon as possible. The move comes alongside the
publication of an updated version of the Pandemic Influenza Contingency
plan.
Influenza pandemics are caused when a new flu virus
emerges to which people have no immunity. Because it is new, annual
seasonal flu vaccine will not be effective and a new vaccine against the
exact strain needs to be made at the time it emerges. The proposal to
purchase in advance the capacity needed to make pandemic flu vaccine
will make sure that an effective vaccine is available for use in the UK
as quickly as possible after a flu pandemic starts.
Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson said, "We
can't prevent a flu pandemic, but we can reduce its impact.
In the U.S., Custom Browser Inc., a leading
distributor of N95 face masks has reported a dramatic spike in sales in
recent weeks and says it is near impossible to keep up with the demand
in the U.S.
"The last time we saw orders for 3M surgical masks
and the 3M N95 variants was during the SARS break out in 2003. At that
time we were selling single orders of N95 masks of 5,000 and 10,000 per
sale. It looks like the surge is on again as a result of the avian bird
flu," said Howard Ryan, proprietor of 3MMasks.com.
"We have just procured over 1,000,000 3M N95 masks
to try and satisfy the demand. But buyers need to beware, he said.
Many websites are selling masks they do not have.
The site visitor is led to believe there is an abundance of stock and
then once making the purchase inevitably receives an e-mail or phone
call stating that stock just ran out and the masks would be delivered in
a few weeks. This is a classic bait and switch perpetrated by many
unethical drop ship websites. We won't let that happen. When we are out
of stock, and it looks like it's inevitable for all mask sellers, we
will simply put our site on a pause and cease order taking.
He said the company is processing orders from
doctors, hospitals and concerned family members who are responding to
the Interim Guidance for the Use of Masks to Control Influenza
Transmission published by the Center for Disease control.
For more information -
http://www.3mmasks.com/
The meeting in Geneva will include members of the
cosponsoring organizations, country representatives, donor partners, and
regional organizations involved in the influenza issue and will enable
an examination of integrated national plans to deal with the issue,
focusing on affected countries and countries at risk. The overall
objectives are:
-
To confirm the two-pronged strategy: to control
avian influenza at source in animals for the short and medium term
and simultaneously prepare for pandemic influenza;
-
To support national plans in line with the
above strategy through commitment at national, regional and global
levels;
-
To discuss shared responsibilities of the
international community and technical organizations and agencies in
assisting affected countries and countries at risk;
-
To assess national, regional and global needs
with broad indications of resources required in the short and medium
term, review current bilateral and multilateral initiatives to avoid
duplication and identify potential synergies;
-
To discuss and outline coordination mechanisms
necessary at national, sub-regional, regional and global levels to
ensure effective and rapid mobilization of resources and oversee the
impact and progress in implementation;
-
To identify key next steps based on an agreed
strategy with the political support and backing from the
international community.
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