MORE BIRD FLU THAN WE KNOW

NewsTrack

Bird flu may be underreported

ROME, May 31 (UPI) -- The World Organization for Animal Health says lack of funding in China, Indonesia and Africa may result in underreporting of cases of bird flu.

"Farmers will probably not report sick animals" in Africa because of inadequate funding, education, time and distance, the group's avian flu coordinator, Christianne Bruschke, said at an international conference of more than 300 scientists from 100 countries in Rome Wednesday.

"Their veterinary services are very weak and many countries do not have laboratory facilities" to track the disease.

Bruschke urged industrialized nations to provide adequate funding to monitor infected poultry in developing countries, the BBC reported.

The animal health organization suspects avian flu virus may now be endemic in poultry flocks in Indonesia, where 36 people have died.

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