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Pastimes : SARS - what next? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry Niman who wrote (900)	8/14/2004 2:34:48 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1070

WHO team on bird flu standby From correspondents in Hanoi, Vietnam August 14, 2004 theaustralian.news.com.au THE World Health Organisation (WTO) said today it had a team on standby to travel to Vietnam to help tackle a new bird flu outbreak, as authorities tested the relatives of the three latest fatalities. WHO representatives met Vietnamese officials yesterday to discuss the latest outbreak, which comes after Vietnam announced on March 30 that it was free of the disease that killed 16 people here earlier this year. They will meet again on Monday to determine what support Vietnam might require from the WHO, including the possible dispatch of a team from its headquarters in Geneva, WHO representative in Vietnam Hans Troedsson said. "This group of experts could actually come as soon as on Monday but will probably arrive later," he said. Vietnam confirmed its latest bird flu fatalities yesterday. Mr Troedsson said health authorities in Vietnam were trying to monitor the possible progression of the virus. "My understanding is that they have surveillance teams to affected areas, testing especially contacts and family members of those tested positive," he said. Yesterday a health ministry official admitted that two more people being treated in hospital for acute respiratory infections were also suspected of having contracted the disease. Questions also remain about a group of people from southern Hau Giang province who died between July 29 and August 2. One of them was tested positive and was among the three new identified cases. But the three others were not tested, raising the possibility they had also died from bird flu. Vietnam was widely criticised as acting prematurely and recklessly when it declared its bird flu crisis was over. Thailand, Indonesia and China have also all recently reported new cases following the worst of the outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus earlier this year that crippled poultry industries and resulted in the deaths or culling of almost two million birds in the region. Eight people also died in Thailand, the last death on March 12.