Governments urged calm on Sunday after H5N1 bird flu made its
first appearance in wild birds on European Union soil, while
Nigeria was testing what could be the first humans to be infected
with the deadly virus in Africa.
News on Saturday that Greece and Italy had found swans with
highly pathogenic H5N1 confirmed the arrival in the EU of a virus
that has killed at least 88 people in Asia and the Middle East and
forced the culling of millions of birds.
The virus claimed two more human lives in Indonesia, raising to
18 the number of deaths in the country from bird flu, a Health
Ministry official said on Sunday.
Further suspected outbreaks in birds were reported, with EU
member Slovenia saying it had sent samples of avian influenza H5
found in a swan to Britain for further tests to see if it was of
the highly pathogenic variety.
European officials tried to reassure people, stressing there had
been no human cases reported in their region.
"I think we have to keep calm," French Health Minister Xavier
Bertrand told France Info Radio.
"With the information coming from Italy, Greece and Bulgaria as
well as Nigeria, we are still dealing with a bird flu, that's to
say it affects birds. There has never been a case of human-to-human
transmission anywhere."
In Italy, Health Minister Francesco Storace told a meeting of
health experts he would prove there was no need for people to be
concerned.
"Tomorrow, I will be visiting all the regions and all the places
where the H5N1 was found precisely to show that there is no reason
for worry for humans," Storace told reporters.
Experts fear the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain may mutate into a
form that can spread between people and cause a global flu pandemic
that could kill millions.
Front pages
The arrival of bird flu in Italy dominated the country's front
pages of Sunday newspapers, eclipsing even the start of the
campaign for an April general election.
The Italian Health Ministry, which urged people not to touch
dead birds, said checks were being made on a swan found dead in the
central Abruzzo region. If it tested positive it would bring the
number of affected regions to four and move the crisis
substantially further north.
At present, humans can only contract bird flu through close
contact with an infected animal, something that is far less likely
with wild birds than farmed flocks.
But that is of no comfort to Nigeria, which last week became the
first African country to confirm an H5N1 outbreak. Like in most of
Sub Saharan Africa, poultry are everywhere there -- in backyards,
on city streets, on buses and in crowded markets.
Nigerian health officials were waiting anxiously for test
results on two children feared to be the first Africans to be
infected with the virus.
"We are suspecting this might be something, but we are trying to
get the real case notes," said Health Ministry official Abdulsalam
Nasidi.
Although only four farms in three northern Nigerian states have
confirmation of H5N1, officials believe more have been hit with the
virus and the problem is compounded by farmers receiving little
information on how to handle the disease.
In Brussels, a UN humanitarian official said he was worried that
bird flu could spread among displaced people in Africa.
"The ultimate nightmare I suppose (would be) this influenza
being transmitted from human to human in overcrowded camps in
Africa," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan
Egeland told reporters in Brussels.
Health officials in the countries with confirmed outbreaks
stepped up their checks for further cases, with many making spot
checks on poultry in areas where the virus had been found.
Veterinary experts said more than 200,000 birds had been culled
in northern Iraq to stem the spread of avian flu -- which has
killed one teenager there -- and emphasised the virus posed no
serious threat to human health.
"Right now this is more of an agricultural issue that's damaging
the economy, not yet a serious health hazard," said veterinarian
Sam Yingst of the US Naval Medical Research Unit in Egypt.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies February 13, 2006)
