Sept 19, 2005: East Anglia Daily Times
- Why we should be concerned but not panic about Bird Flu
The threat of a bird flu pandemic, with disastrous human consequences, has received a lot of press coverage recently. East Anglia was mentioned regularly because of its importance to migratory birds. While it does appear that the virus in Asia has, in some cases, been spread by migration there have been no recorded cases of transmission of the disease between infected wild birds and humans, nor from person to person. The threat to people now is not great, it is the potential of the unpredictable that is worrying. Following the terrible events in New Orleans the story has dropped from media agendas, but the failure in responding to Hurricane Katrina showed what happens when emergency situations are badly handled.
The report I presented on Avian Influenza to the Public
Health Committee last week deals with aspects of this threat. These proposals
are designed to ensure that everything possible is done to protect human
health in the event of a pandemic and to assist member states in developing
preparedness plans.
Bird flu does not respect national borders. I believe
on this issue we must all work together to increase cooperation and communication
across Europe on an international problem. This will allow good ideas to
spread, trial runs of how to respond to an outbreak to be undertaken and
Governments which aren't taking sufficient action to be shamed into doing
so.
I started working on this report in June and since then
I have met with top veterinary experts in Europe on bird flu, NGOs, representatives
of all political groups and of the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control.
Politicians and the EU are easy targets for critics. Sometimes
these criticisms are valid. However, occasionally we do work together
on important issues that really affect peoples' lives.
No one knows what form a bird flu pandemic might take.
We cannot prepare a complete vaccine until the virus has revealed itself.
The good news is that since it first appeared in South East Asia
the virus has been very slow to mutate. The danger now is not great. We are doing all we can to prepare for the unpredictable and the only way we will be successful is if we don't panic. Bird flu may have dropped out of the media spotlight but that doesn't mean that work on how to deal with the threat has stopped.
Anyone interested in learning more about the danger posed
by bird flu and the EU's response to it should contact Robert Sturdy, rwsturdy@btconnect.com
