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Asia must share bird flu virus, vaccine: Australia

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  • Asia must share bird flu virus, vaccine: Australia

    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ds vAlign=top width=435 height=0>http://www.thanhniennews.com/worlds/...9&newsid=28825

    Last Updated: <!--2007-06-07 20:43:31 todaysDate = Date(07, 06, 07, 20, 43, 31); --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript> dayarray = new Array("Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); montharray = new Array("January", "February", "March", "April","May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"); todaysDate = new Date("June 07, 2007 20:43:31"); document.write(dayarray[todaysDate.getDay()] + ", " + montharray[todaysDate.getMonth()] + " " + todaysDate.getDate() + ", "); //if (todaysDate.getYear() < 1000){ //document.write(todaysDate.getYear() + 2000); //} else { document.write(todaysDate.getFullYear()); //} document.write(" 20:43:31 Vietnam (GMT+07)"); </SCRIPT>Thursday, June 7, 2007 20:43:31 Vietnam (GMT+07)
    </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><!--This begin of the news --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%" colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="50%" height=30> E-mail to a friend </TD><TD width="50%">Print version</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left height=35>Asia must share bird flu virus, vaccine: Australia
    </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left width="100%" colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=20 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=left colSpan=2> </TD><TD align=left width=5></TD></TR><TR><TD class=cap align=left colSpan=2>A worker injects a chicken with vaccine at a hennery in Huai'an, east China's Jiangsu province</TD><TD align=left width=5></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Australia called on Asia-Pacific nations on Thursday not to let commercial or national interests stand in the way of creating bird flu vaccines before a pandemic breaks out. </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>
    "I want to stress that disease does not respect national borders," Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott said at the opening of the 2007 APEC Health Ministers' conference in Sydney.
    "It is vital that we do not let commercial self-interest or national pride stand in the way of an affective regional and ultimately global response to this problem."
    There have been 188 deaths globally from the H5N1 bird flu virus since late 2003 and 310 known infections in total, according to World Health Organization data.
    Indonesia has recorded 79 human deaths from bird flu, the highest in the world.
    Abbott said the biggest problem facing the Asia-Pacific was the production of a vaccine before a pandemic broke out. "A pre-pandemic vaccine is probably the biggest single challenge we face at the moment, that is why virus sharing is so important," said Abbott.
    "I am very pleased that Indonesia has resumed virus sharing. It is very important for the whole world that we do have H5N1 samples for close study and analysis if we are going to be able to produce the vaccines that we may need."
    Sharing samples is deemed vital to see if viruses have mutated, become drug resistant or grown more transmissible. The samples are also used to develop commercial vaccines.
    Indonesia said on Wednesday the H5N1 virus might have undergone a mutation that allows it to jump more easily from poultry to humans, but stressed the findings were preliminary.
    The country said last month it had resumed sharing samples with the WHO after a five-month hiatus.
    Along with other developing nations, Indonesia has been demanding guarantees that they will have access to affordable vaccines in the event of a pandemic.
    China shared human bird flu samples for the first time in more than a year, the World Health Organisation said last week.
    China has previously complained that samples it sent to WHO-affiliated laboratories in 2004 were used in research that failed to acknowledge the contribution of Chinese scientists, in a breach of protocol for which the U.N. agency has apologized.
    "Don't be complacent"
    Abbott said Australia had not yet created a bird flu vaccine stockpile, but would encourage the sharing of any vaccine with countries hit by a pandemic, just as it has helped neighboring Indonesia stockpile anti-virals.
    "I think it is important that we work out fair international arrangements for ensuring that we don't get a situation where some countries get the disease and some countries get the vaccine," he said.
    "It is easier for countries like Australia, Britain and America to pledge vaccines than it is for poorer countries such as Indonesia," he said.
    Indonesia has been struggling to contain the disease because millions of backyard chickens live in close proximity to humans across the archipelago.
    Bird flu is endemic in poultry in many parts of Indonesia and contact with sick fowl is the most common way humans become infected with bird flu.
    But scientists are worried about the virus's persistence and ability to adapt to new environments and hosts, fearing this increases the chances of the virus mutating into a form that can jump easily between people, triggering a pandemic.
    "I think people have become a little complacent about the risk of a pandemic. It is still very real but it is not something that is going to happen tomorrow," he said.
    Australia has spent almost A$600 million (US$500 million) on pandemic preparedness, said Abbott, adding a pandemic in Australia could potentially kill 48,000 people, see a further 150,000 hospitalized and seven million seek medical attention.
    Source: Reuters
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  • #2
    Re: Asia must share bird flu virus, vaccine: Australia

    I'll get bird flu drug last, says Abbott



    June 7, 2007 - 11:39AM

    Health Minister Tony Abbott says he will be the last person in Australia to be given a bird flu vaccine or drug to treat the deadly virus in the event of a pandemic.

    Almost half of all Australians could potentially be treated with flu drugs like Tamiflu at current stockpile levels, Mr Abbott told his regional counterparts at an APEC meeting in Sydney.

    Those who were sick and in the frontline of the pandemic fight would get preference for treatment, he said.

    "In a nutshell the conclusion that we have come to thus far is that anti-virals should be used while they last to protect people with very high levels of exposure to avian influenza ... and to treat people in the early stages of illness," he said.

    The minister said in situations of "extreme fear" it was inevitable people would be concerned others were getting a better deal.

    "In order to try to reassure the public that no favourites are being played here ... I have said to the public I will not be making anti-virals available to me and that if we have a pre-pandemic vaccine I would be the last person in Australia to be given it.

    "Because the truth is I do not as minister keep the hospitals going; I do not as minister treat sick people; I do not as minister help keep power stations going; I do not as minister keep the streets safe."

    The APEC Health Ministers Meeting has been told that a pandemic would potentially kill 48,000 Australians and hospitalise a further 150,000, with seven million seeking medical attention.

    The federal government has spent almost $600 million on pandemic preparedness but a stockpile of effective vaccine has yet to be produced.

    The meeting, a prelude to the September APEC summit, focuses on efforts to prepare businesses and social institutions to cope in the event of an outbreak.

    Mr Abbott said he hoped all 21 member economies would agree to continue sharing samples of the latest circulating strains of the mutating H5N1 virus to ensure new vaccines work.

    This comes after Indonesia's five-month "freeze" on sharing in protest against the fact drug companies could develop vaccines that were too expensive for its population.

    Mr Abbott indicated he would agree to share an Australian-made vaccine with Indonesia and other neighbours once it became available.

    "That's what we did with anti-virals once we had a stockpile in this country and I don't see why we wouldn't operate on the same basis with vaccines," Mr Abbott told reporters before the meeting.

    The 12 ministers and nine senior delegates will present a declaration when the meeting concludes on Friday.

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