WHO-ADB Outbreak Team Leader Urges Continued Vigilance on Avian Flu

HANOI, VIET NAM (19 March 2004) - The leader of a special outbreak response team set up jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and ADB today urged Viet Nam to show continued vigilance against avian flu.

In his first mission as team leader, epidemiologist Dr. Richard Brown is working with the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City assisting Vietnamese colleagues in examining the issues arising from the disease.

"Infection of humans with avian strains of influenza had never been described until 1997 and this is the first time so many cases have been seen," Dr. Brown said. "For this reason, a real opportunity exists to learn more about the disease and to begin to understand why some people become infected, while others that appear to be at risk don't.

"The main risk is that as long as there continues to be avian influenza in the region, there is still the potential for outbreaks. For this reason, countries need to strengthen surveillance, maintain vigilance, and have robust contingency plans ready."

Dr. Brown said that there is a danger of more outbreaks if chicken farms are repopulated too soon. "As long as there are sick animals, there is the possibility of human cases or a new form of the virus," he added.

He is one of a team of four WHO health experts funded by ADB and based at WHO's Western Pacific Regional Office in Manila.

Over the next three years, the team will work in the region to:

• Strengthen regional capacity to anticipate, mitigate, and control potential epidemics of communicable diseases, including SARS and avian flu;
• Create a core cadre of trained surveillance and infection control specialists in at least 15 developing countries in the region in epidemic prevention and control;
• Improve capacity at regional level to monitor unfolding epidemics through a network of sentinel surveillance laboratories, and cross-border reporting and recording systems for emerging infections; and
• Prepare a long-term capacity development plan for the Asian and Pacific region.

At the Pasteur Institute, Dr. Brown is supporting epidemiological studies undertaken by Vietnamese experts on the country's 22 laboratory confirmed cases in humans. At least 15 people are confirmed to have died from the virus in Viet Nam, along with seven in Thailand.

The outbreak of avian influenza in Viet Nam and the region in the last few months has had a significant impact on the rural economy, particularly hurting poor rural households who have been hit by loss of household income from poultry, rising market prices for alternative protein sources, and loss of job opportunities.

In Viet Nam, the bird flu has led to the culling of 38 million chickens and fowl, accounting for 15% of the total poultry stock. ADB responded to the Government's initial request for support through the immediate provision of US$50,000 grant assistance to buy 15,000 sets of personal protection equipment for frontline workers involved in the culling of affected chickens in some of the worst affected provinces. The equipment was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on 9 February.

In addition, $160,000 under the Emergency Support to Address the Outbreak of SARS program has been made available to help the Ministry of Health develop improved surveillance systems and more comprehensive training programs. To meet medium and long-term requirements, $6.3 million that was reallocated from an ADB Rural Health Project will also assist in the identification, treatment and control of emerging infections diseases.

In a letter to Le Duc Thuy, Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam last week, Bradford Philips, Country Director of ADB's Viet Nam Resident Mission, congratulated the Government on its efforts to contain the avian influenza outbreak and assist affected farmers. While the outbreak of H5N1 virus may have been contained, with some provinces being declared free of the virus, ADB strongly endorses the Government's emphasis on maintaining careful monitoring and surveillance systems to prevent any reemergence of the virus.

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