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Source: http://news.theage.com.au/world/spend-money-on-dengue-not-bird-flu-who-20080919-4jxv.html
Spend money on dengue, not bird flu: WHO
September 19, 2008
Money spent trying to stop bird flu in the Pacific would be better used fighting a pandemic of dengue fever affecting thousands in the region, the World Health Organisation says.
Dr Kevin Palmer, the WHO representative in Samoa, said the Pacific needed more funds to battle what was likely the worst-ever dengue fever outbreak.
"There has been hundreds of millions of dollars spent on bird flu and bird flu pandemic preparedness. Bird flu is something that hasn't happened and probably won't happen," he said.
"The Pacific is experiencing this dengue outbreak, a dengue pandemic, and it would require only a very small amount of funds to really make a difference.
"This is a pandemic that is real, it is here, it is now, and having a direct effect on the health and the economy of the people that it has hit," Palmer said.
Fiji authorities say 966 people have been affected by the disease this month, causing 118 people to be treated in hospital.
Kiribati has had 831 diagnosed cases this year, New Caledonia had 866 and Samoa had 427.
There have also been serious outbreaks of dengue fever in French Polynesia, the Cook Islands and elsewhere.
"Look at bird flu. How many people? Eight hundred people total have been affected since we started counting years ago. It is minuscule," Palmer said.
Dengue fever is contracted when people are bitten by infected Aedes mosquitoes and if untreated can be fatal.
The disease was unheard of in the Pacific until last century, and is thought to have been introduced with mosquitoes aboard a shipment of used tyres from Asia in the 1960s.
With global warming it was possible more of the Pacific and Australia, where the disease was not currently endemic, would experience dengue problems, Palmer said.
Spend money on dengue, not bird flu: WHO
September 19, 2008
Money spent trying to stop bird flu in the Pacific would be better used fighting a pandemic of dengue fever affecting thousands in the region, the World Health Organisation says.
Dr Kevin Palmer, the WHO representative in Samoa, said the Pacific needed more funds to battle what was likely the worst-ever dengue fever outbreak.
"There has been hundreds of millions of dollars spent on bird flu and bird flu pandemic preparedness. Bird flu is something that hasn't happened and probably won't happen," he said.
"The Pacific is experiencing this dengue outbreak, a dengue pandemic, and it would require only a very small amount of funds to really make a difference.
"This is a pandemic that is real, it is here, it is now, and having a direct effect on the health and the economy of the people that it has hit," Palmer said.
Fiji authorities say 966 people have been affected by the disease this month, causing 118 people to be treated in hospital.
Kiribati has had 831 diagnosed cases this year, New Caledonia had 866 and Samoa had 427.
There have also been serious outbreaks of dengue fever in French Polynesia, the Cook Islands and elsewhere.
"Look at bird flu. How many people? Eight hundred people total have been affected since we started counting years ago. It is minuscule," Palmer said.
Dengue fever is contracted when people are bitten by infected Aedes mosquitoes and if untreated can be fatal.
The disease was unheard of in the Pacific until last century, and is thought to have been introduced with mosquitoes aboard a shipment of used tyres from Asia in the 1960s.
With global warming it was possible more of the Pacific and Australia, where the disease was not currently endemic, would experience dengue problems, Palmer said.
