In the aftermath of the Tsunami on 26th December we need to be prepared for the consequence of possible disease outbreaks following such a large scale tragedy. The devastation is a immense pressure for the affected countries around the Indian Ocean. The World Health Organisation announced last week that two children in Vietnam have died of the human infection of the H5N1 avian influenza. We need to take steps to make sure that bird flu is not a disease that will take advantage of the current situation, mutating to a human strain and causing a possible pandemic.
Avian flu is a product our of large scale intensive poultry farming practices; In South-East Asia, poultry farms produce meat which is exported to satisfy high demand from American and European consumers. The intense output places an obvious strain on the conditions these birds are kept in. More than a million birds have died from Avian influenza or have been culled.
“Are we prepared for the deaths of 10 or 20 million of our fellow citizens arising from the mutation of the human and animal virus that we cannot control?” asked the European Health Commissioner David Byrne at a conference last September at the Hague in a move to create a single EU strategy for dealing with zoonotic diseases. He was addressing a new challenge, in the form of Asian bird flu, overcoming several species, in which “Europe could face a devastating pandemic”.
Millions of birds have been killed already in attempts to break the spread in countries from which Europe, including the UK, imports poultry meat. If the spread of pollen concerns objectors to genetic engineering, the mobility of bacteria and viruses and mutations in their progress through the global village and its denizens is attracting the greater immediate alarm. Memories linger of the flu epidemic that swept off more humans after WW1 than succumbed in the hostilities of the previous 5 years. Populations under stress are particularly susceptible to epidemic zoonotic disease.
Disasters such as the effects of the earth and sea movements in the Indian Ocean and the overwhelmed lands prompt the urgency of David Byrne’s amplified warnings.
Mr Byrne’s warnings added that “the disease risks posed by intensive farming also come under scrutiny” (Animal Pharm, 08 October 2004). He continued: “In the agricultural sector greater account needs to be taken of the implications of intensive husbandry. Policies need to encourage a shift away from intensive rearing. “These words resonate with a key conclusion in the Executive Summary of the Report of the BSE Inquiry, published 4 years earlier: “BSE developed into an epidemic as a consequence of an intensive farming practice-the recycling of animal protein in ruminant feed. This practice, unchallenged over decades, proved a recipe for disaster”. |
