EU medical chief says Europe ready for bird flu

BRUSSELS - Europe can expect a bird flu pandemic among humans within the next 10 years, but it is prepared to deal with an outbreak, a top EU medical expert said.

Professor Johan Giesecke of the European Centre for Disease Protection and Control (ECDC) was speaking after chief veterinary and medical officers of the 25 EU nations met to discuss protecting European workers in contact with poultry.

"It is a near certainty that Europe will have a bird flu pandemic within the next decade, but we are ready," Mr Giesecke said.

"It might not happen tomorrow, or in the next few years, but it is certain that there will be a bird flu pandemic which will affect humans within the next 10 years ... People need to wake up to this now."

The former Swedish state epidemiologist called for legislation to protect people working with birds.

"There are already health and safety directives in this area and all we want is to add to them," he said.

The measures would include enforcing the use of breathing masks, protective clothing and antiviral drugs.

"A pandemic could see 25 per cent of Europe's workforce out of work sick, while also putting enormous strain on Europe's healthcare infrastructure. So the stakes are high," he said.

The ECDC also wants children who come in to contact with infected birds to receive reduced doses of antiviral medicine according to their weight.

The centre was set up in May to pool expertise and help co-ordinate the EU's national public health authorities.

Mr Giesecke said there was a positive aspect to recent scares in Europe about bird flu after the deadly H5N1 virus that can affect humans spread from Asia to the southeastern fringes of the continent.

"It has a had a positive side effect in that countries now take the issue more seriously than, say, a year ago," he said.

Since October, four outbreaks in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine have been confirmed as the H5N1 strain which has killed 69 people in Asia.

Scientists fear H5N1 risks causing a pandemic in which millions could die if it mutates into a form that spreads easily among humans. But there is no sign so far that the virus has changed in that way.

- REUTERS