http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1271629.htm
Last Updated 24/12/2004, 14:55:24
WHO says bird flu pandemic 'inevitable'
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that a global Bird Flu pandemic
is now inevitable.
Officials say they fear when it happens, the virus will spread globally
within weeks, affect up to 30 per cent of the world's population and kill
between two and seven million people.
The Western Pacific region Director of the World Health Organisation, Doctor
Shigeru Omi, says the outbreak is not a matter of if, but when.
"Pandemic is very likely to occur. We think that it could spread to most
of the world within weeks," he said.
"As a consequence the proportion of the population that could be affected,
let's say some people say 20, or some people say 30 per cent of the total
population may be affected and at least some experts say that two to seven
million people will die."
The deadly H5N1 strain of the disease has already killed more than 30 people
in Thailand and Vietnam, and led to the death or culling of millions of birds
across Asia.
In September, Thai officials confirmed the country's first probable case
of human-to-human infection of bird flu following the deaths of a mother and
daughter.
A mutated bird flu outbreak was blamed for the deaths of as many as 40
million people worldwide in 1918.
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