Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Global community not sharing enough of bird flu battle burden: CDC flu czar
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060920/x092024.html
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060920/x092024.html
15:01:00 EDT Sep 20, 2006
Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL
<!--end of storyhead--> <!--updated p--> <!--updated para--> <!-- CPPara1--> WASHINGTON (CP)
The international community is not bearing enough of the burden of combating H5N1 avian flu, leaving too much of the work to some of the world's poorer countries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's outgoing flu czar said Wednesday.
<!-- CPPara1End--> <!--updated p--> <!--updated para--> <!-- CPPara2-->Dr. Jim LeDuc said countries like Vietnam have paid a huge price to try to lower the risk that the virus will spark a human flu pandemic, without adequate compensation from developing countries in the form of guarantees of access to antiviral drugs or vaccines that might be created to protect against the virus.
<!-- CPPara2End--> <!--updated p--> <!--updated para--> <!-- CPPara3-->"We as a global community have asked the least developed nations of the world to bear the brunt of controlling this," LeDuc told participants at a conference on the legal and ethical issues of mitigating pandemic disease hosted by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.
<!-- CPPara3End--> <!--start of p-->LeDuc admitted the gap between what is being asked and what is being offered troubles him deeply.
<!--start of p-->"We also have not so far done a good job in recognizing, not only the sacrifices, but the accomplishments countries like Vietnam and Thailand have attained in addressing avian influenza," said LeDuc, who leaves the CDC for the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in early November.
<!--start of p-->"I don't think we've appreciated as much as we should the efforts of countries like Vietnam and Thailand - and China to some extent - that have really aggressively intervened. The ones that have sacrificed these hundreds of thousands, millions of chickens and millions and millions of dollars lost."
<!--start of p-->Vietnam and Thailand are seen as international successes in the battle against H5N1.
<!--start of p-->Thailand, hit hard in the early months of the outbreak, had only five human cases last year and has had only two so far in 2006. Vietnam, which until recently had the highest death toll, has taken stringent actions to try to control spread of the virus in poultry. Those efforts have paid off; Vietnam hasn't had a human case since last November.
<!--start of p-->"The Vietnamese have changed their culture. They've basically eliminated these wet (live animal) markets and really diminished the exposure," LeDuc noted.
<!--start of p-->Vietnam also provided the virus that vaccine manufacturers in developed countries are using to make experimental vaccines to protect against H5N1.
But the country has no human flu vaccine manufacturing capacity - and no chance of obtaining any of the scarce product made elsewhere, if H5N1 becomes a pandemic strain.
<!--start of p-->"That, I think, is a fundamental challenge that we as society need to address," LeDuc said in an interview.
<!--start of p--> "It's not a national issue. It's not a bilateral issue. It's something that I think we need to rely on the World Health Organization to set the stage and we need to have buy-in from nations around the world."
<center>? The Canadian Press, 2006</center>
Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL
<!--end of storyhead--> <!--updated p--> <!--updated para--> <!-- CPPara1--> WASHINGTON (CP)
The international community is not bearing enough of the burden of combating H5N1 avian flu, leaving too much of the work to some of the world's poorer countries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's outgoing flu czar said Wednesday.
<!-- CPPara1End--> <!--updated p--> <!--updated para--> <!-- CPPara2-->Dr. Jim LeDuc said countries like Vietnam have paid a huge price to try to lower the risk that the virus will spark a human flu pandemic, without adequate compensation from developing countries in the form of guarantees of access to antiviral drugs or vaccines that might be created to protect against the virus.
<!-- CPPara2End--> <!--updated p--> <!--updated para--> <!-- CPPara3-->"We as a global community have asked the least developed nations of the world to bear the brunt of controlling this," LeDuc told participants at a conference on the legal and ethical issues of mitigating pandemic disease hosted by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.
<!-- CPPara3End--> <!--start of p-->LeDuc admitted the gap between what is being asked and what is being offered troubles him deeply.
<!--start of p-->"We also have not so far done a good job in recognizing, not only the sacrifices, but the accomplishments countries like Vietnam and Thailand have attained in addressing avian influenza," said LeDuc, who leaves the CDC for the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in early November.
<!--start of p-->"I don't think we've appreciated as much as we should the efforts of countries like Vietnam and Thailand - and China to some extent - that have really aggressively intervened. The ones that have sacrificed these hundreds of thousands, millions of chickens and millions and millions of dollars lost."
<!--start of p-->Vietnam and Thailand are seen as international successes in the battle against H5N1.
<!--start of p-->Thailand, hit hard in the early months of the outbreak, had only five human cases last year and has had only two so far in 2006. Vietnam, which until recently had the highest death toll, has taken stringent actions to try to control spread of the virus in poultry. Those efforts have paid off; Vietnam hasn't had a human case since last November.
<!--start of p-->"The Vietnamese have changed their culture. They've basically eliminated these wet (live animal) markets and really diminished the exposure," LeDuc noted.
<!--start of p-->Vietnam also provided the virus that vaccine manufacturers in developed countries are using to make experimental vaccines to protect against H5N1.
But the country has no human flu vaccine manufacturing capacity - and no chance of obtaining any of the scarce product made elsewhere, if H5N1 becomes a pandemic strain.
<!--start of p-->"That, I think, is a fundamental challenge that we as society need to address," LeDuc said in an interview.
<!--start of p--> "It's not a national issue. It's not a bilateral issue. It's something that I think we need to rely on the World Health Organization to set the stage and we need to have buy-in from nations around the world."
<center>? The Canadian Press, 2006</center>