High risk bird flu countries

Africa, Indonesia, China bird flu hot spots -- experts


Associated Press
Last updated 01:13pm (Mla time) 09/17/2006

SINGAPORE -- Africa and East Asia, especially Indonesia and China, are particularly at risk for bird flu outbreaks despite progress in combating the disease in many countries, World Bank and UN experts said Sunday.

"We are worried within the African continent that we don't have access yet to the same level of resources as we have for East Asia and Eastern Europe," said Jim Adams, who heads the World Bank's bird flu task force, speaking on the sidelines of the bank's annual meeting.

The UN's chief for bird flu, David Nabarro, also expressed concern about the widespread appearance of the virus in Africa, but said the greatest worries still were in East Asia.

Indonesia, the country hardest hit by human fatalities from the H5N1 strain of the virus, has reported the virus in 260 of its 444 districts, Nabarro noted.

"It would be fair to say that there is a lot of H5N1 avian influenza virus in that country and that is a cause for concern," Nabarro said.


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