Bird Flu Center set to Protect Southeast Asia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2008
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) opened a regional center in Thailand stocked with supplies to combat a potential outbreak of avian influenza. Larger than a soccer field, the Bangkok warehouse contains enough protective equipment, decontamination kits and laboratory equipment to serve tens of thousands of people throughout Southeast Asia.
The first of three regional centers being planned worldwide, the depots will ensure a rapid response to any outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus, commonly called 'bird flu' because it strikes animals, particularly poultry. Millions of chickens and ducks have been wiped out despite billions of poultry vaccinations and culling of hundreds of millions of more birds. USAID spent nearly $550,000 stocking the Bangkok depot.
Avian influenza remains a major threat along the Mekong River-a massive territory snaking from Burma, dividing Laos, Thailand and Cambodia and terminating in southern Vietnam-while outbreaks occur throughout the region as well, increasing the risk the virus might mutate and attack humans, according to Dr. John MacArthur, USAID's infectious diseases advisor. Still, people are rarely infected. Worldwide, the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in more than 330 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Flu pandemics routinely occur about every 35 years according to the CDC. However, with today's rapid transportation, a pandemic would spread faster than ever before and cause between four and 40 million deaths, claims the U.N.'s World Health Organization.
For more information on USAID and its avian influenza activities visit www.usaid.gov.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.
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