国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

WHO: Bird flu vaccine for humans nearly completed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-27 11:22

Scientists are just weeks away from designing a human vaccine against the deadly Asian bird flu that has killed 22 people and will take longer and more money to stamp out than previously thought, U.N. experts said Thursday.

"Our laboratories are working actively on designing a new vaccine. We hope that in a few weeks the design phase will have been completed," Bjorn Melgaard, the WHO representative in Thailand, told Reuters at an international meeting in Bangkok.

Officials from 23 Asia-Pacific countries, U.N. bodies and donors kicked off the three-day emergency meeting with urgent pleas to intensify the fight against the disease.

The virulent H5N1 avian influenza virus has hit seven Asian countries and killed 15 Vietnamese and seven Thais -- fueling fears it could acquire the ability to easily infect humans, who have no immunity.

That has not happened, but Melgaard told the meeting "the conditions in affected countries and elsewhere are ripe for the emergence of just such a pandemic strain of the influenza virus."

"A vaccine could be available shortly for vaccine manufacturers to begin small-scale production, so that safety and efficiency studies can be conducted," he said.

It could be another three to six months before a commercial version of the vaccine is widely available.

The virus is proving difficult to stamp out, with new and recurring outbreaks among poultry despite the slaughter of 100 million birds. Japan and Cambodia are the latest countries investigating possible new cases.

"It is clear that the avian flu epidemic is not yet under control," Melgaard said, noting that it took the United States two years to wipe out an outbreak in the 1990s.

"The threat to human health will last as long as avian influenza persists in the environment," he said.

CALL FOR AID

The Bangkok meeting will seek to expose weaknesses in the fight against bird flu, with experts already pointing to a lack of resources for animal disease surveillance in the region.

The world animal health body OIE called for a national network of farmers trained in diseases and supervised by veterinarians, saying they must play a bigger role in detection and reporting of the disease.

"The cost of this investment is insignificant compared to the enormous losses linked with" outbreaks, OIE regional representative Teruhide Fujita told the meeting.

Foreign donors at the meeting will come under pressure to help cash-strapped government such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia pay for culling operations and restocking thousands of small farms.

Experts say culling is by far the most effective way to combat the disease, but it can also worsen the plight of poor farmers unless they get help.

In Thailand, the world's fourth-largest chicken exporter, thousands of small farmers earning $300 a month on average have fallen into massive debt because government compensation does not cover all lost income.

And once this emergency is over, nations will need financial and technical help to overhaul a way of farming that has not changed for centuries and is partly to blame for the crisis.

"This is a call to donors, realizing that the fight against bird flu will take longer than we thought, and it will be enormously costly," said He Changchui, Assistant Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Greenspan: Free floatation of the yuan could be risky

 

   
 

Political advisers pledge to better people's life

 

   
 

Jam-proof satellite going up next year

 

   
 

More and more women saying no to abusers

 

   
 

Bush, Kerry open battle for White House

 

   
 

NASA: Mars had enough water for life

 

   
  Haiti rebels vow to lay down arms
   
  US to tight Iraq border security
   
  Study: Thousands of girls fighting on front lines
   
  Bush, Kerry open battle for White House
   
  Dutroux: I was child sex ring pawn
   
  No permanent asylum yet for Aristide
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  San Francisco on gay marriage blitz as mayor slams Bush  
Advertisement
         
    浦东新区| 余庆县| 贡山| 于田县| 宣汉县| 开封县| 准格尔旗| 额敏县| 大新县| 漳平市| 肃宁县| 汉中市| 吉安市| 尉犁县| 微山县| 奎屯市| 旌德县| 昌宁县| 牙克石市| 图木舒克市| 乌鲁木齐市| 屏南县| 华池县| 梁山县| 甘孜县| 博客| 大悟县| 文山县| 顺义区| 虹口区| 淮阳县| 邻水| 中卫市| 交口县| 新沂市| 武陟县| 彭山县| 黄陵县| 莎车县| 黔东| 威宁|