#776
Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization, today called bird flu the greatest global health threat of the 21st century.
Chan: Bird Flu Huge Global Health Threat
May 16th, 2007 @ 5:42pm
By ELIANE ENGELER
Associated Press Writer
GENEVA (AP) - The U.N. health chief on Wednesday harshly criticized countries that do not share their H5N1 virus samples, accusing them of crippling the world in the fight against a possible flu pandemic.
"If you do not share the virus with us ... I would fail you," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in a speech to the agency's 193 member countries. Without H5N1 samples from affected countries, Chan said that "you are tying my hands, you're muffling my ears, you're blinding my eyes."
Chan did not single out any country by name, but Indonesia and China have been the main holdouts. Indonesia in particular has been locked in a virus stand off with WHO since last year.
Though Indonesia's health minister Tuesday announced that the country had shared three viruses with a WHO-accredited laboratory in Japan, it is uncertain whether further viruses will be shared. Indonesia has complained that the viruses it shares would be used for vaccines that its population cannot afford.
China has also been less than forthcoming with bird flu samples. No H5N1 viruses have been received from China for nearly a year _ during which time Beijing has reported several human bird flu cases. China is readying five virus samples to be shared with WHO, but it is unknown when they will actually be sent, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
Chan said that a flu pandemic would be the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. Tracking H5N1's evolution is essential to determine when virus mutations might enable it to be more easily spread between people.
(cont.)
Despite the seriousness of the situation, countries continue to maneuver, obfuscate, and delay. Perhaps from their perspective that makes sense, but for the rest of the world it spells potential disaster.
Indonesia is front and center due to the sheer number of cases we know about, but China has refused to send samples now for more than a year, and that is equally troubling.
Surprisingly, the general public still doesn't seem to grasp that a pandemic is a genuine possibility. They view it as science fiction, or a conspiracy theory of some sort, and not likely to happen. Warnings such as the one issued today by the WHO seem to fall on deaf ears.
The media hype of a year ago has all but disappeared. A pandemic didn't happen on their self-imposed timetable, and so they, and the public, lost interest.
Governments, however, continue to prepare.
The Swiss, not known for being reactionary, have ordered enough pre-pandemic vaccine for their entire nation, and are urging all citizens to procure a stockpile of masks. The UK, already far ahead of the United States in securing a Tamiflu stockpile, is seriously thinking about doubling their stockpile.
And the high stakes diplomatic poker game between Indonesia and China, and the WHO, are stark reminders that a pandemic is considered a national security issue by many nations.
Undoubtedly, if a pandemic comes, many people will claim they weren't warned. That no one told them to prepare.
They were told.
They just weren't listening.
