재앙은 지구를 노리고...

최근의조류독감 바이러스가 지구적인 건강 위기로 확산되고

있는사실이 전 세계적으로 만연하고있는 문제이나 대응에는

전혀아무런 준비가 되어 있지 않다고 미국 보건성의 고위

관리가말했다.태국 캄보디아 라오스에서 조류 독감이 일어

나게 되면 세계의여타 나라는그 곳으로 가서 그들을 도와야

하며 확산 억제가 최선이라했다.방지와 대응과 확산과 전반적인

계획과준비를 위해 본회에 들어가기 전금요일 전국가가 참가

하는회의가 열릴 것이고본회에서 각 국가가시행을 위해

10~15개의주요 지침을 내놓를 것을 미국이 원하고 있다고

밝혔다.1918년의 독감과 비스하다고 두려워하며 그 당시에는

2천 내지 5천만명이 죽은 것으로 추정되고 있다. 피할 수 없는

자연의 응징이라고. 미국은 부시가 나서서 백신을 독려 중인데

한국에 전염될 경우 천만명의 환자가 발생할것이라는데

우리네 보건 당국은단가 기간 운운이고 예산은 다른 곳에...

Official: World not ready for flu

Friday, October 7, 2005 Posted: 0026 GMT (0826 HKT)

Hospital pharmacy officials work in Jakarta. The U.N. says Indonesia needs more money to fight bird flu.
Image:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S.'s top health official says the world is "woefully unprepared" to respond to a pandemic, a problem made more urgent by concerns that the current avian flu virus could spread into a global health crisis.

"The world is woefully unprepared," Mike Leavitt, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, told CNN Thursday. "You'd think that it would be a matter of constant concern to us. It has not been, anywhere in the world and, consequently, the world is unprepared. And we're now as a civilization rallying to say, 'What can we do to better prepare?'"

Leavitt made his comments as health experts from around the world gathered in Washington to discuss the possibility of a flu pandemic.

The two-day conference is bringing together representatives of more than 80 countries and international organizations about preventing the spread of the avian flu virus.워싱토에 모인 이틀간의 조류도감확산 방지를 위한 모임에서 80개국이상이 모여 대표와 확산방지 기구 설립을결의했다.

Leavitt, who is hosting the event along with U.S. Global Affairs Undersecretary Paula Dobriansky, said officials were trying to devise a comprehensive surveillance plan so that the virus could be monitored closely, allowing for a quick response if it was seen to be spreading.

That way, he said, "if it happens in Thailand or Laos or Cambodia, the rest of the world can go there and help them contain it. Containment is our first strategy."

The conference will hold a plenary session Friday, before breaking into sessions on prevention, response and containment and preparedness and planning for a pandemic.Officials participating in the session said the United States hoped the conference would produce 10 to 15 key policy priorities for countries to implement -- proposals first unveiled last month at the U.N. General Assembly.

The principles include transparency of quick and accurate reporting of outbreaks, donor support for affected countries and a pledge to work with the World Health Organization.

One senior U.S. State Department official said the goal of the conference was to build "political momentum" for countries to coordinate their efforts to quickly identify and respond to cases in animals or people so the disease does not spread.

The United States also wants to help build capacity of affected countries that may not be equipped to deal with an outbreak.

The Bush administration has seized on the avian flu as a potential threat.

A senior official from the U.S. Agency for International Development said Andrew Natsios, the agency's administrator, had made the virus "the top priority" for allocation of funding and personnel.

President George W. Bush has said aggressive action would be needed to prevent a potentially disastrous U.S. outbreak of the disease.

But his call for Congress to give him the power to use the military in law enforcement roles in the event of a bird flu pandemic has been criticized as akin to introducing martial law. (Full story)

The White House has also called on representatives of the pharmaceutical industry to meet Friday about getting involved in the manufacturing of more flu vaccines.

In his interview with CNN, Leavitt also said the United States needed to do more at home.

"We also need to have surveillance domestically, so if it shows up here we know about it very quickly," he said.

Plenty of antiviral drugs and vaccines needed to be available on short notice, he said, and local communities must be well-versed on how to respond "because a pandemic is something that happens all over the country at the same time."

"This is a unique type of problem that we need to be better prepared for," Leavitt said. "A pandemic is essentially nature's terrorist."

The World Health Organization has confirmed at least 116 cases of the current bird flu virus, including 60 deaths -- with a mortality rate of more than 50 percent.

All but a handful of cases were caused by direct contact with sick birds, suggesting the virus, so far, is unable to move easily among humans.

But health officials have warned that with continued exposure to people, the virus could mutate further and develop that ability.

Officials have expressed fears that the virus is currently acting similarly to the 1918 flu virus, a pandemic that killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people.

Researchers announced Wednesday that they had reconstructed the 1918 strain of flu virus, a major advancement that could speed up preparation for -- and potentially thwart -- a pandemic. (Full story)

"This groundbreaking research helps unlock the mystery of the 1918 flu pandemic and is critically important in our efforts to prepare for pandemic influenza," Dr. Julie Gerberding, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.

It marks the first time an infectious agent behind a historic pandemic has ever been recreated.

Australia is set to host a meeting of the 21 members of APEC at the end of October, where pandemic and disaster management coordinators will discuss the Asia-Pacific region's response to the threat. (Full story)