Dr Yitades Gebre, advisor of disease prevention and control for the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), made the disclosure yesterday while speaking to the issue of seasonal, Avian and pandemic influenza.
It should be noted that H5N1 is a strain of the Avian influenza that affects birds. So far, there has been no human to human transmission cases, but there is concern because the H5N1 virus has the potential of becoming a pandemic. Once the virus mutates it will no longer be bird virus but a human influenza- which is a new influenza virus now adapted to affect humans.
Dr Gebre explained that world-wide there are many strains of the Avian influenza viruses which affect a number of poultry including chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quails, ducks, geese and other birds. The main concerns, he said, are the transmission of a new virus H5N1 in birds and the second is the transmission of this virus from birds to humans. “If there is human to human transmission that will be the start of a serious outbreak which will be a pandemic. At this point in time, we do not have pandemic influenza in the world,” he noted.
Since 2004, Dr Gebre said many countries were in the process of developing their preparedness plan in the event of an influenza pandemic which may affect at least 25 percent of the world’s population. He estimated that to be half a billion or close to 1.2 billion people that could be infected. “This may also result in at least $800 billion dollars of cost in the economy. Hence, if this is the estimated impact in our society, countries and member countries and governments have to prepare themselves in the event of this pandemic.”
PAHO representative for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, Lynda Campbell explained that the H5N1 virus has spread from Asia to the Middle East, to Europe and Africa and has the prospect of spreading to the Americas, including the Caribbean. Since 2003, affected areas have seen over 4,200 outbreaks of the disease in poultry and a current total of 208 human cases that have resulted in 115 deaths, she said.
Although it is possible for humans to get bird flu from birds, it requires close contact with affected birds, she highlighted. So far, the Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture has banned the importation of birds from the European Union and are only accepting chickens from the United States and Brazil.
Senator Dr Marcus Bethel the former Minister of Health said last year during a press conference that, “The situation is that the Ministry of Health as 200 other Ministries of Health will monitor the situation,” as it relates to bird flu. “There is no reason to alarm anybody unless the need arises.” Dr Bethel added that no one is certain if bird flu can be contracted from eating contaminated chickens.
By: JIMENITA SWAIN, The Nassau Guardian
