UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Monday urged heightened preparedness and surveillance against a possible 'major resurgence' of Avian Influenza amid signs that a mutant strain of the deadly bird flu virus is spreading in Asia and elsewhere.
Although the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus was eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its peak in 2006, the virus was never completely contained and it remained endemic in six countries, mainly in domestic poultry and wild bird populations. The number of outbreaks shrank steadily from an annual peak of 4,000 to just 302 in mid-2008, but almost 800 cases have been recorded in 2010 and 2010.
According to FAO's chief veterinary officer, Juan Lubroth, bird migration has helped the virus travel over long distances and expand geographically. In the past two years, the H5N1 virus has shown up in poultry or wild birds in countries which had been virus-free for several years such as Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal, Mongolia, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Although the virus may be introduced by bird migratory movements, people's actions in poultry production and marketing determine how the virus is spread. Therefore, Lubroth said these practices "should be better regulated and more hygienic, as the consumer needs to be protected as well as the production facilities because so many people's livelihoods depend upon poultry and poultry rearing."
Lubroth said a further cause for concern is the appearance in China and Vietnam of a variant virus, known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1., which appears to be able to bypass the defenses provided by existing vaccines.
Most of the northern and central parts of Vietnam, where H5N1 is endemic in poultry, have been invaded by the new virus strain. Vietnam's veterinary services are on high alert and are considering a targeted vaccination campaign this fall after the country suspended its springtime poultry vaccination campaign earlier this year.
FAO noted that virus circulation in Vietnam poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan. Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, where the virus is still firmly entrenched, are likely to face the biggest problems but no country can consider itself safe since wild bird migration can also spread the virus to other continents, Lubroth noted.
FAO said the risks of the H5N1 virus for the human health cannot be predicted. However, Lubroth told UN Radio that there is no indication that the new virus strain will behave differently than the previous one or that it is more dangerous to humans.
Since 2003, the H5N1 virus has killed or forced the culling of more than 400 million domestic poultry and caused an estimated $20 billion of economic damage across the globe before it was eliminated from most of the 63 infected countries.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the bird flu virus has infected 565 people since it first appeared, killing 331 of them. Most cases and deaths were recorded in Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and China. The latest death occurred earlier this month in Cambodia, which has registered eight fatal cases of human infection this year.
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