Europe beefs up preparedness for flu pandemic at WHO meeting

GENEVA, Tuesday (AFP) The World Health Organization said Europe was well placed to combat the deadly strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus but warned against complacency, recalling, however, that the risk of humans contracting the disease from birds was low.

"It is important not to be complacent in Europe at this time, but ground zero in the war against avian influenza is Asia, not Europe, and Europe has an excellent chance of containing the virus," doctor Gudjon Magnusson, director of the Copenhagen-based WHO regional office's Europe division of technical support for reducing disease burden, told reporters.

The highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu that is circulating in poultry and other birds in southeast Asia has been identified in four countries in WHO's 52-member European region: Britain, Romania, Russia and Turkey.

"Through adequate preparedness and action Europe can avoid the situation we see in Asia," Magnusson said.

"Though there are countries in our region that have been affected, the 118 cases of humans diagnosed with the disease so far have all been in southeast Asia, none in Europe."

So far some 60 people have died, all in Asia, primarily people who were in direct contact with infected poultry.

Magnusson is heading a three-day joint meeting of the WHO, the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Copenhagen to discuss improving readiness against the possible occurrence of an influenza pandemic in Europe, attended by health experts and decision makers from the 52 European countries.

Each of the European Union's 25 member states - as well as non-EU country Norway and some candidate nations - now has a preparedness plan in place, according to Dr Fernand Sauer, director of public health and risk assessment at the European Commission.

"We have a duty not to be alarmist but our preparedness work, which started two years ago, must continue. We have a greater awareness today of the problem," Sauer added.

Meanwhile the European Commission will this week propose a temporary ban on imports of wild birds from the rest of the world, EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said.

The European Union's executive arm has been urgently considering action after Britain called for a blanket ban on the import of exotic birds after finding the deadly strain of bird flu in a quarantined parrot at the weekend.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of EU farm ministers in Luxembourg, Kyprianou said he will on Tuesday propose a "general ban ... on the imports of captured birds, which is wild birds which have been captured."