Chinese gov’t on bird flu blasted by WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a report critical of the Chinese government for not cooperating on the issue of bird flu.
WHO blasts Chinese gov’t on bird flu - Yahoo! News
The Chinese government evidently did not share information and samples of a new strain of the bird flu. It seems this strain has been spreading in poultry and some humans in China for about a year. It wasn’t until it spread to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos and Thailand that is was brought to WHO’s attention.
While I understand the possible reasons for the Chinese government not wanting to make this sort of information available, the fact that viruses don’t respect artificial country boundaries makes it the world’s problem. The same thing happen with SARS. I’m not sure how to convince a country to be more forthcoming with this sort of information.
Convincing the Chinese it is in everyone’s best interest to be forthcoming is a challenge. They don’t want to look weak or like they can’t handle the situation but then the rest of the world can’t wait until they situation is so bad that they can no longer keep a lid on the situation. For now, I think the only thing that can be done is to have an active surveillance program in adjacent countries to see when it appears there. It may not give as much advance notice as desired but it appears to be the only viable option it this time.
Technorati Tags: avian flu, bird flu, World Health Organization
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