EU ministers hold emergency bird flu talks
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EU foreign ministers held emergency talks on the approaching danger of avian flu on Tuesday, as Greece investigated what could prove the first appearance of the deadly strain in an EU member country.
Swiss drugmaker Roche, pressed to raise output of antiviral flu drug Tamiflu, said it would consider allowing rival firms and governments to produce it under license for emergency pandemic use. A Dutch company said it was working on a vaccine.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, chairing the EU meeting, said its main purpose was to reassure citizens that every precaution was being taken to prevent the avian influenza outbreak mutating into a pandemic that could kill humans.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged calm after the emergence of the H5N1 strain of the virus, potentially fatal to human beings, in birds in Turkey and Romania.
“I don’t think we have to enter into panic,” Solana said.
Greece was testing a bird found on the tiny eastern Aegean island of Inousses to establish if the bird flu virus it bore was the H5N1 strain, which first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997 and has killed more than 60 people.
“As a purely precautionary measure we have…imposed an export ban of living poultry, meat and other poultry products from the region of Chios to other areas, the EU member states and third countries,” Greek Agriculture Minister Evangelos Basiakos said.
DANGER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Scientists fear if the bird flu virus passes on any large scale from birds to humans it could mutate into a variety that could spread easily between humans. In a virulent form, they say, this could kill millions worldwide.
No human cases of the virus have been found in Europe.
The World Health Organization has expressed fears that alarm in Europe could distract attention from what is the real seat of the danger in southeast Asia. More than 60 people have died of the disease in Asia where, by contrast to Europe, people often live close to poultry and are exposed to a greater peril.
EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said after briefing EU foreign ministers he did not think the presence of avian flu in Europe increased the danger of a human influenza pandemic.
He said more than a half of EU states had placed orders for anti-viral flu drugs.
Media coverage of the approach of bird flu, which scientists believe is being borne over Europe by birds migrating to Africa, has been colored by more than a hint of extreme alarm in several countries.
In Bulgaria, which neighbors Romania and Turkey, newspapers have spoken of “panic” and “hysteria.”
Sofia has urged calm but is preparing a national crisis headquarters and stepping up border controls and surveillance of poultry farms and wetlands near its Danube River boundary—seen as a major conduit for migrating birds.
FEAR FOR THE ISLAND
Romania said it had detected new cases of suspected bird flu in the Danube delta, one of them close to the border with Ukraine. Tests were being carried out to see whether it was the H5 virus, of which H5N1 is a deadly sub-strain.
Croatia is also testing dead birds found by citizens.
Greece, however, was the focus of attention on Tuesday, where results of tests for the H5N1 virus were awaited.
Greeks sought out the antiviral drug Tamiflu, reflecting growing demand throughout Europe.
Roche Holding AG said it would be willing to discuss giving a production license for Tamiflu to rival firms including Indian generic drug maker Cipla. Executive David Reddy said however the firm had not yet been approached by Cipla, which says it could make a copy-cat version to help governments build stockpiles.
Dutch company Akzo Bobel NV said it was working on a human vaccine against H5N1 and would begin clinical trials next year.
People on the Greek island of Inousses, where the suspect bird was discovered, found themselves the center of media attention. The farmer who alerted authorities after seeing turkeys fall ill said he feared for his island.
“Yes I am concerned, but not just for me but for all the people here,” Dimitris Komninaris told reporters. “But everyone on the island is keeping calm.”
Besides the human danger, countries visited by bird flu in its various forms can face grave economic losses. The milder H5N7 strain struck the Netherlands in 2003, prompting slaughter of 30 million birds and losses estimated at 500 million euros.
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