Sources:
CIDRAP News
Robert Roos News Editor
The global H5N1 avian influenza situation has not improved very much since the virus began spreading widely in 2003, and many human cases have probably gone unreported, French health experts conclude in an assessment published yesterday in Eurosurveillance.
While the deadly virus still has not gained the ability to spread easily from person to person, "The overall worldwide situation of influenza A(H5N1) . . . is not markedly improved since 2003," says the report by researchers from the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de Veille Sanitaire) in Saint-Maurice, a French government agency.
"This fact, and regular reintroduction of the virus by wild birds in countries where foci have been controlled (such as Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey or Vietnam) underscore the importance of maintaining adequate surveillance and response capacities for infections in both animals and humans," the authors add.
Read more at the One Health Initiative website, or at CIDRAP News ...
