EU urges global fight against bird flu

LUXEMBOURG - EU foreign ministers urged global cooperation on Tuesday
to tackle the threat of avian flu, as Greece investigated what could
prove the first appearance of the deadly strain in an EU member
country.

Swiss drugmaker Roche, under international pressure to raise output of
antiviral flu drug Tamiflu, said it might allow rival firms and
governments to produce it under licence for emergency pandemic use. A
Dutch company said it was working on a vaccine.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, chairing an emergency meeting of
European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said discovery of the
deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in Turkey and Romania was no cause for
panic.

"So far there is no evidence of any transfer of the virus to human
beings. Let us hope that remains the situation," Straw told a news
conference after the meeting.

"But members of the public are bound to be concerned and their
concerns can be allayed if they are shown that every effort is being
made by the European Union and by member states effectively to
coordinate action."

Scientists fear if the H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 60
people in Asia since it first appeared there in 1997, passes from
birds to humans on a large scale it could mutate into a variety that
could spread easily between humans. In a virulent form, they say, this
could kill millions worldwide.

EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou, coordinating the 25-nation
bloc's response to avian flu, said Brussels did not yet know whether
the virus detected in a bird on the Aegean island of Chios was the
deadly strain. Tests were proceeding.

Greece took precautionary measures, banning exports of living poultry,
meat and other poultry products from the island to EU member states
and third countries.

CHIEF THREAT IN ASIA

The foreign ministers said in a statement the EU could not act
effectively on its own in tackling a threat that could move so quickly
across countries and continents.

"The Council (of ministers) recognised that avian and pandemic
influenza are global threats and called for an international
coordinated response," the statement said.

The global nature of the threat was born out in moves in the
pharmaceutical industry towards covering a shortfall in anti-viral
agents that could help combat the virus.

Roche Holding AG said it would be willing to discuss giving a
production licence for Tamiflu to rival firms including Indian generic
drug maker Cipla. Executive David Reddy said however the firm had not
yet been approached by Cipla, which has said it could make a copy-cat
version to help governments build stocks.

Dutch company Akzo Bobel NV said it was working on a human vaccine and
would begin clinical trials next year.

But scientists say development is difficult before the exact
architecture of a mutated virus is known.

Kyprianou said after briefing EU foreign ministers more than a half of
EU states had placed orders for anti-viral flu drugs.

The World Health Organisation has expressed fears that alarm in Europe
could distract attention from what is the real seat of the danger in
southeast Asia. More than 60 people have died of the disease in Asia
where, by contrast to Europe, people often live close to poultry and
are exposed to a greater threat.

Romania said it had detected new cases of suspected bird flu in the
Danube delta, one of them close to the border with Ukraine. Tests were
being carried out to see whether it was the H5 virus, of which H5N1 is
a deadly sub-strain.

Turkish authorities are examining the remains of some 500 quails found
in a field in the west of the country, the state-run Anatolian news
agency said.

Greece, however, was the focus of attention on Tuesday.

People on the Greek island where the suspect bird was discovered found
themselves the centre of media attention. The farmer who alerted
authorities after seeing turkeys fall ill said he feared for his
island.

"Yes I am concerned, but not just for me but for all the people here,"
Dimitris Komninaris told reporters. "But everyone on the island is
keeping calm."

Besides the human danger, countries visited by bird flu in its various
forms can face grave economic losses. The milder H5N7 strain struck
the Netherlands in 2003, prompting slaughter of 30 million birds and
losses estimated at 500 million euros.

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