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Japan: No
indication of new strain |
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TOKYO, Thurs. --- The discovery of two cases of bird flu in humans in China does not indicate the emergence of a new strain of the disease, a top Japanese official said today. China reported its first human infections --- including one fatality ---on the mainland yesterday. Health workers were rushing to inoculate billions of chickens to stop the disease’s spread. Experts fear that the H5N1 virus could be the catalyst for a new global flu pandemic that has the potential to kill millions of people. |
But Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said there was no evidence that the human infections in China meant the virus had developed into a new form that could easily spread among humans. “It indicates a new spread of bird flu, but at this point, it does not indicate the emergence of a new type of avian influenza”, Abe told reporters. Abe said the Government is currently working on a response plan that would allow a vaccine to be manufactured within six months of an outbreak of a new human flu, with supply sufficient for 60 million people. |
Under the action plan announced on Nov 14, Tokyo was looking to store enough doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for 25 million people, he said. “We are looking into the most effective way to use Tamiflu”, he said. Tamiflu is believed to be the most effective medicine to treat H5N1 in humans. Abe also said that Japan was eager to cooperate with other Asian nations at a meeting this week in South Korea of Pacific Rim economies to help stem the spread of the disease. --- AP. |
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