UN Warns New Lethal Bird Flu Strain May Emerge In Indonesia

[Purveyor]

ROME, March 18 (RIA Novosti) - A United Nations agency said on Tuesday the bird flu virus, common in Indonesia, could mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted from person to person causing a global pandemic.

Indonesia has the world's highest human death rate from bird flu with 104 fatalities, or one third of the global death toll. About 80% of cases in the southeast Asian nation have been traced to the Jakarta region.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned in a statement that there could be more human cases if the government and the international community fail to act more effectively to contain the spread of the virus at source, among birds.

"I am deeply concerned that the high level of virus circulation in birds in the country could create conditions for the virus to mutate and to finally cause a human influenza pandemic," FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said.

All but two of Indonesia's 33 provinces have been hit by bird flu outbreaks, according to the FAO report. Insufficient financial aid and human resources, as well as poor public relations are hampering efforts to contain the disease, Domenech said.

The FAO official also warned that new types of the deadly H5N1 strain have recently emerged, which may make vaccines currently in use redundant.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080318/101628539.html