Asia-Pacific to stage mock flu outbreak

BRISBANE, Australia -- Countries across the Asia-Pacific region coping with an outbreak of bird flu plan to stage a mock disease outbreak next year to gauge how well they would respond to a pandemic or other major health threat, an Australian official said Tuesday.

The exercise is expected in the first half of next year and will try to identify major weaknesses in preparedness and coordination, Doug Chester, Australia's ambassador to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, said at the end of a two-day meeting of disaster coordination experts. He did not give any details on the plan, but indicated it would focus more on strategy than field exercises.

Chester, who chaired the meeting in the eastern city of Brisbane, said planning for pandemic preparedness should not incite public panic about the potential for the bird flu virus to mutate and unleash a deadly global flu epidemic among humans.

"There is an element of scare-mongering that is undermining effective planning in some economies, and it's causing unnecessary economic damage to some economies," he said.

He said poultry and tourism industries in some APEC countries were already feeling the pinch.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu began ravaging poultry stocks across the region and jumping from birds to people in late 2003. Since then, it has killed at least 62 people in Southeast Asia.

Health experts have warned if the current virus mutates into a form that is easily spread from human to human, it could set off a pandemic and kill millions. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with diseased poultry.

Bird flu and pandemic preparedness is expected to be high on the agenda when the 21 APEC nations meet in Busan, South Korea, later this month.

On the meeting's sidelines, Subhash Morzaria, of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's regional office in Bangkok, said $102 million is needed to fight bird flu in poultry alone in poor Southeast Asian nations over the next two to three years. An additional $75 million will be necessary for emergency support if the disease spreads from eastern Europe to Africa.

He urged all countries to take advantage of the time they have to prepare.

"It's not like a tsunami, which just happens suddenly, or an earthquake," Morzaria said. "At least people have an opportunity to discuss preparedness plans, identify gaps and then fill them in."

But a U.S. participant told The Associated Press that more emphasis must be placed on animal health and veterinary science.

"We can't just focus on human health and the consequences of a pandemic without considering the effect on animal health and the mitigations that can be used there to keep the pandemic from occurring," said Larry Granger of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Chester said the nations discussed establishing regional experts who can be dispatched to assist countries in need. He also said the APEC countries were keen to develop a regional pandemic response mechanism that would work alongside the United Nations to address issues such as trade, assisting citizens in foreign countries and keeping essential services and businesses running.

Member countries already hit by bird flu outbreaks agreed there was still much to be done.

China's disease control expert said that the country has learned the lessons of its SARS outbreak and is committed to complete openness as it fights bird flu. China has 20 percent of the world's domestic poultry population and has reported three bird flu outbreaks in poultry over the past month. No human cases have been reported.

In Canada, senior government officials said that nearly three dozen wild birds have tested positive for H5 influenza, but also said it is unlikely that it is the H5N1 strain of the virus.

APEC members include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Taipei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.