UN to set up bird flu warning system
Posted at 11:05am on 19 Nov 2005
The United Nations is to set up a bird flu early warning system to alert countries of incoming migratory birds that could be carrying the deadly virus.
The system, which will take one to two years to become operational, will provide precise details of the types of wild birds, arrival times and destinations.
Robert Hepworth, a UN official who heads the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), says it is hoped the system will give countries enough time to prepare.
"Migrations don't all occur on the same day or even at the same time as they are sometimes affected by either local or seasonal variations in climate," he said. "So we would need to have a system whereby there was sufficient warning."
World leaders are trying to control a growing outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza, which has spread to poultry in several Asian and European countries.
The virus has killed 67 people since late 2003.
Full Story
The United Nations is to set up a bird flu early warning system to alert countries of incoming migratory birds that could be carrying the deadly virus.
The system, which will take one to two years to become operational, will provide precise details of the types of wild birds, arrival times and destinations.
Robert Hepworth, a UN official who heads the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), says it is hoped the system will give countries enough time to prepare.
"Migrations don't all occur on the same day or even at the same time as they are sometimes affected by either local or seasonal variations in climate," he said. "So we would need to have a system whereby there was sufficient warning."
World leaders are trying to control a growing outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza, which has spread to poultry in several Asian and European countries.
The virus has killed 67 people since late 2003.
Full Story
posted by ... at 4:50 PM
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