Bird flu spreads in China while Bush's $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls

Nov 20 2005

As World health experts predicted there will be more human bird flu infections in China, the U.S. Congress has stalled the funding of President George W. Bush's plan to cope with a pandemic.

Officials in China have confirmed the first human deaths from the H5N1 avian flu virus, saying one person in Anhui province had died and another in Hunan province is suspected of having been killed by the H5N1 strain.

Meanwhile a second person diagnosed with bird flu in Hunan has recovered.

Apparently World Health Organization (WHO) officials expected this development and say it does not necessarily mean a human pandemic is about to begin.

World Health Organization Director General Lee Jong-Wook says in view of the size of the country, and the size of its bird and human population, it is not a surprise.

Henk Bekedam, WHO's chief official in Beijing, also says that more poultry outbreaks can be expected as the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu flourishes in the autumn and winter months.

Bekedam affirms that as long as there are poultry outbreaks, people will be exposed to the virus and might get infected.

Two more deaths have also occurred in Indonesia, bringing the total there to seven, according to the Health Ministry; four others have survived.

Although the WHO has urged all countries to come up with plans for tackling a pandemic of bird flu, U.S. efforts stalled on Thursday when Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives refused to approve funding for Bush's $7.1 billion plan.

Following days of intensive talks between the House and Senate, negotiators have dropped a plan for $8 billion in funds that Democrats pushed through the Senate last month.

Conservative Republicans in the House are insisting that an emergency U.S. effort to stockpile vaccines and anti-viral drugs that could be effective against the deadly flu must be paid for by cutting other government programs.

Apparently Republican leaders in the House said that instead of attaching the bird flu money to a health and labor spending bill moving through Congress, they would try separate legislation later this year or early next year.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has become endemic in flocks of poultry in many Asian countries.

While Chinese officials trying to control several outbreaks have promised to vaccinate billions of chickens to try to halt the spread of the virus, many experts fear it is too late for that action to be effective.

At present the virus cannot easily infect people, but it has already sickened 130 people in five countries in Asia, killing 67 since late 2003.

Experts fear the virus will mutate and acquire the ability to pass from person to person, causing a pandemic that could kill millions.

In stark contrast to their behaviour two years ago, when China tried to cover up outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, blanket coverage has been given to its first human cases of bird flu.

At that time SARS carried by airline passengers as far afield as Toronto, sickened 8,000 people globally, killing 800, before it was contained.

Premier Wen Jiabao has apparently said that the 2003 defeat of SARS will inspire victory over bird flu.

WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng says China has been a model of how it is hoped countries will react to a situation like this in the future.

Cheng says that despite a very uncertain situation China went ahead with increased transparency.

It seems analysts are trying to find opportunities for investors if a pandemic does emerge.

According to a global Citigroup study, the most likely losers in a pandemic would include airlines, hotels, insurers and luxury goods makers, while the potential winners include drug makers, hospital chains and home entertainment companies.