Commission tells member states to prepare for flu pandemic

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 13/10/05

Health ministers from the EU states will meet in the UK on Thursday (20 October) with the European Commission pressing for greater commitment to prepare for an influenza pandemic.

Concern in Europe over the movement of the highly contagious bird flu and its potential to spread to humans has been mounting since Turkey found evidence of the disease last week. Romania and Bulgaria are also carrying out tests on dead birds found on their territory.

The EU's preparedness for a pandemic was already on the agenda of Thursday's informal ministerial meeting in Hertfordshire. Ministers from Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have been invited.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has called for a meeting between the EU's health and foreign ministers to co-ordinate a response. Prime Minister Domi-nique de Villepin will hold a meeting with relevant French ministers on Friday (14 October) to discuss their approach.

"We don't know what the co-ordination will be yet but France is already asking for reinforced surveillance of migratory birds at EU level," said a French official. The EU agreed last month to step up surveillance as a response to avian flu in Russia.

"We're hoping that member states will agree to co-ordinate at EU level their preparedness for a pandemic and to work together if a pandemic occurs," said Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou's spokes-man Philip Tod.

Yesterday (12 October), veterinary experts from the EU states approved the Commission's proposal to extend its ban on all imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey until April 2006. Results on samples sent from Turkey for testing at a reference laboratory in the UK are expected on Friday (14 October), which should show whether the birds were infected with the H5N1 strain that has caused the deaths in Asia of millions of birds and around 65 people since 2003.

The veterinary experts said that the presence of avian influenza in Romania was not confirmed. Dead poultry and wildfowl were found on the Danube delta on the Black Sea on 7 October. Dead birds have also been found in Bulgaria, visited by Kyprianou earlier this week, but Tod said that there were no confirmed reports of viral influenza.

The EU does not import live poultry or meat from Turkey because of concerns about animal health, but in 2004 the bloc imported 53 tonnes of cooked meat products and limited qualities of pet birds and feathers.

Some 6,500 tonnes of poultry products were imported from Romania last year but there are no estimates available of imports from Bulgaria.

The Commission is putting pressure on member states to prepare themselves to battle against the widely predicted flu pandemic which would result if and when the H5N1 strain mutates to pass from human to human.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends stockpiling antiviral drugs for at least 25% of the population and we are also urging member states to follow WHO recommended levels of vaccinating 75% of the vulnerable population against seasonal flu," Tod said.

He added that while bigger member states had already begun stockpiling, the same was not true throughout the 25 countries.

Commissioner Kyprianou and External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner are also trying to convince the World Bank and the WHO to hold an international donor conference before 2006 to tackle the root of the problem in Asia. "The best way to eradicate the disease is to help Asia get on top of the disease," said Tod.

Article gives an update on recent events concerning the occurrence of avian flu in South-Eastern Europe and measures taken across the European Union.

European Commission: DG Health and Consumer Protection: Public Health A-Z: Influenza: Avian Influenza Fact Sheet http://ec.europa.eu/comm/health/ph_threats/com/Influenza/avian_influenza_en.htm

---