Bird flu agreement with APEC countries

In May, the countries of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative, adopted an APEC Action Plan on the Prevention and Response to Avian and Influenza Pandemics. This calls for cooperation in five key areas.

Basically, they're cooperating in trading knowledge from early surveillance.

The biggest challenge is the part about reforming commercial poultry methods. It's hard to imagine that every small village in southeast Asian not have chickens wandering around. Yet there's no doubt that ancient way of raising chickens contributes to the spread of the disease, since wandering chickens are exposed to diseases both from each other, from people, from other animals and wild birds.

And these chickens coming into contact with people, especially children, is giving the virus to humans.

And it's also hard to believe the region will manage to outlaw "wet markets" -- where the birds are sold live so that people can slaughter and then cook the chickens themselves. Or markets where meat is sold already slaughtered, but displayed openly.

And this is the normal mode of poultry production not only in southeast Asia, but the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.


Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative countries agree on fight against bird flu


immune system, immunity, bird flu, avian flu