BIRD FLU? IT'S NOT OVER YET

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION WARNS OF NEW WAVES OF BIRD FLU AND HARSH PUNISHMENT FOR COUNTRIES THAT DON'T COMPLY WITH NEW RULES ON CONTAINING THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS

The spread of avian influenza around the world has not gone quiet. But the media coverage has.

The new chief of the World Health Organisation has used one of her first speeches to warn that bird flu remains today one of the greatest threats facing the world.

From the BBC :

Margaret Chan, a bird flu expert from Hong Kong, is the first Chinese citizen to become the head of a UN agency.

She said reports of bird flu had started to surface in recent weeks after a lull and that the danger was particularly severe in poor countries.

Dr Chan said the number of bird flu cases had been increasing in recent weeks.

The WHO is particularly concerned about an outbreak on a poultry farm in Vietnam, the first in that country in almost a year.

Dr Chan pledged to take a hard line on countries that do not comply with requirements to carry out checks against bird flu or hinder global efforts to develop vaccines.

Her Chinese origin, she said, would help her in any dealing with the authorities in China, the country where the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu first emerged.

"I think of all people I would be in a better position to work with the Chinese government," she told the BBC.

Dr Chan also warned of the danger of a new flu pandemic, particularly if it took hold in countries with poor healthcare, where people were already affected by diseases such as HIV/Aids.

"The next pandemic, if it occurs, will be very devastating... we are very concerned of the likelihood of a pandemic," she said.

Africa is struggling under the burden of Aids, conflict and poverty and a flu pandemic in such conditions would be catastrophic, the BBC's Geneva correspondent Imogen Foulkes says.