Greak health said he was having chicken dinner on bird flu hit island
by leo (the real makedonian) (no login)
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Chicken dinner for Greek minister on bird-flu hit island
10-19-2005, 08h51
OINOUSSES, Greece (AFP)
Unpacked chickens for sale at Rungis International Market in Rungis, near Paris. Greece's health minister said he plans to have a chicken dinner during a visit to an Aegean Sea islet to reassure concerned residents after suspect cases of bird were found there
(AFP)
Greece's health minister said he plans to have a chicken dinner during a visit to an Aegean Sea islet to reassure concerned residents after suspect cases of bird were found there.
"I have already ordered a chicken from the henhouse of the housekeeper of the doctor" on Oinousses, Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis said on Flash radio when asked if he'd eat chicken from the islet off the eastern island of Chios.
On Monday Greek authorities said they found antibodies for the H5 avian flu virus in a live turkey from Oinousses, but said further tests were needed to determine whether it is the H5N1 subtype which has killed 60 people in Asia over the past three years.
"I want to send the message that the avian flu and an epidemic among humans are two radically different things, and concerning a human epidemic, we don't even know if it will happen, and if so, then when," said Kaklamanis.
Some scientists have warned that it is not a question of if, but when a new highly infectious flu virus sweeps the globe similar to the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed millions, and expressed concern that a mutation of the deadly H5N1 strain could be spark such an epidemic.
Kaklamanis was set to visit Oinousses' medical clinic, bringing with him 20 doses of a vaccine for the common flu at the request of residents.
Many of the islet's several hundred mostly elderly residents have already received vaccinations, he said Tuesday.
Meanwhile tests on a dead pigeon found in the Romanian capital Bucharest proved negative for bird flu, Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said Wednesday.
"Experts have conducted tests on a pigeon found dead in the center of Bucharest after worried residents signaled its presence. The results of the tests showed it did not carry avian flu," the minister told a news conference.
European Union foreign ministers underlined the need for global coordination on the pandemic threat after emergency talks clouded by growing concern over the H5N1 bird flu strain that has killed more than 60 people in Asia.
Scientists fear that H5N1 may mutate, acquiring genes from the human flu virus that would make it highly infectious as well as deadly -- possibly killing millions worldwide as in the influenza pandemic of 1918.
"Avian and pandemic influenza are global threats (which need) an international coordinated response," the ministers said after their talks, focused both on crucial world trade negotiations and the bird flu threat.
But EU health and consumer protection commissioner Markos Kyprianou underlined that bird flu and human flu pose different threats.
"The fact that we have avian flu in Europe now does not affect the threat of a human pandemic ... it could come from this virus, it could come from a mutation of any other influenza virus," he told reporters.
Scientists confirmed at the weekend that the deadly Asian strain of the H5N1 virus, carried west by migratory birds, had been detected for the first time on the European continent in southeastern Romania's Danube Delta region.
Two days earlier, it was confirmed in the Asian part of northwest Turkey.
Romanian tourism officials added said the outbreak had already cost the industry several million euros in lost business -- and demanded help from the Bucharest government.
In Turkey, veterinary workers have slaughtered more than 9,000 birds, mostly chickens, around the site of an H5N1 outbreak in the northwest village of Kiziksa.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said a three-week quarantine imposed on October 8 around the village had successfully contained the virus and he ruled out any risk of further propagation.
In a further worrying sign, Macedonian authorities said Tuesday that a bird suspected to have died in Macedonia of a strain of avian flu will be flown to Britain for further testing.
Bulgaria also banned the transit through its territory of live poultry that has travelled through neighbouring Greece, Turkey and Romania.
In France producers of foie gras were on high alert over the approach of avian flu, but expressed confidence that any damage to the lucrative Christmas and New Year market would be limited.
British customs authorities are giving extra attention to flights from Turkey and Romania, using sniffer dogs to seek out birds, eggs and feathers in luggage.
EU states have been urged to stockpile anti-viral drugs, and on Tuesday Swiss drug giant Roche said it was boosting output of Tamiflu, seen as a first line of defence against a pandemic.
Roche, which has an exclusive licence to make Tamiflu, said Tuesday it was ready to discuss ways of increasing production with any government or company -- which could include secondary licensing arrangements in the event of a flu pandemic.
Hungary, meanwhile, said it would offer to vaccinate all its citizens for free against bird flu and may market its own vaccines abroad, if human tests currently under way prove to be successful.
Elsewhere the Spanish government said it was ordering a total six to 10 million anti-viral doses to allay fears of a potential bird flu pandemic.
Portugal said it had enough anti-viral drugs to treat 0.5 percent of the country's 10 million people. It had ordered 2.5 million doses of antiflu drugs but would not be taking delivery until June, a senior official said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the bloc must reassure the public over fears that the lethal virus might spread.
The EU must ensure "above all that there are the most adequate contingency plans across Europe to deal with any transfer of the avian virus to human beings," he said.
AFP
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