Hand gel kills bird flu virus and Indonesian update

A company in the UK has come up with a hand gel which has the ability to kill the H5N1 bird flu virus in under a minute.

The gel which could be on the market by the end of the year, has been developed for the prevention of the disease among health workers, consumers and agricultural workers and kills the virus within 30 seconds.

The London based company DermaSalve Sciences, makes products for treating dry skin, and says the gel remains active for 30 minutes after it is applied.

DermaSalve's chief executive Dr. Mark Randle, says the company will begin manufacturing the product next month and is already involved in commercial discussions with various companies regarding the sale of the gel.

Experts say other products already on the market such as soaps, sprays and other gels that claimed to kill all germs may also have the ability but have not been tested for this particular type of bacteria or virus.

As one expert says until it is known which specific strain of bird flu has the potential to cause a pandemic, the gel could well be useless.

The news of the gel comes as Indonesia has embarked on a campaign to educate people, especially in rural areas, on how to avoid their poultry becoming infected.

Almost all Indonesia's small-scale farmers have seen their flocks decimated by the deadly virus and many now have only a small number of birds to supplement the family income.

Since bird flu first appeared in Indonesia in 2003, it has spread to 29 out of the country's 33 provinces, and resulted in the deaths of millions of birds, and at least 48 humans.

It is thought there are as many as 30 million "backyard farmers" spread across Indonesia's vast territory and it is these that present such a problem to health authorities in controlling outbreaks of the virus.

With the backing of international organisations, specialist teams of vets are being sent in to rural areas where there is little information about how bird flu spreads, to provide education and rapid response and surveillance.

This however has only been implemented in just nine of Indonesia's 29 affected provinces and officials say more funding is needed to fight bird flu.

The government has also launched a campaign on radio and television to try and get the message across and has increased the amount of compensation it will pay to farmers who cull sick birds and has provided quicker access to the money paid.

Government plans to vaccinate bird stocks have also been hampered by finance and the Agriculture Ministry has only been able to buy 60 million doses of the vaccine, for the 300 million chickens in Indonesia.

Although International donors have pledged around $50m next year to help Indonesia fight bird flu, the government says it needs more than $350m to carry out its National Plan, but by cutting its own contribution, Indonesia has deterred international organisations from generating donations.

According to John Weaver, a senior technical advisor with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in Jakarta, other major problems in Indonesia such as tsunamis, earthquakes and malaria, make bird flu a low priority event in some provinces.

All this serves to make bird flu experts nervous that if Indonesia's problem is not addressed it could become a global one.