BRUSSELS, Sun. --- European health experts gather tomorrow to assess the response to bird flu with the continent on high alert after a week of worry that a lethal Asian strain would pierce its defenses to infect people.

The talks in Copenhagen, involving officials from more than 50 countries, come less than two weeks after the disease erupted among birds in Turkey and Romania, borne in by migrating flocks.

It is part of a growing list of emergency  meetings  called to

study measures, coordinate action and calm public fears the virus will jump the species barrier in Europe, mix with common flu genes and spark a human influenza pandemic.

Since 2003, the deadly H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia. Most worked in the poultry industry.

In Europe, the main victims so far have been animals. Not only Turkey and Romania, but also Russia, Macedonia and Greece have slaughtered thousands of birds amid fears of outbreaks.

Another victim has been the European poultry market, which saw sales dive over the week amid alarm that the disease could be picked up through food.

Indeed it was a week punctuated by misunderstandings over what the disease is, how it spreads, if cooking can kill it and whether or not there is a vaccine.

So far there isn’t an approved one, but Hungary claimed last Friday that its vaccine tests on humans had shown it to be effective, with all volunteers developing antibodies to the disease.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) told a meeting of European Union health ministers last Thursday that the risk of avian flu sweeping through the population this winter is anything but high.

“The Who stressed to us that the risk to the general population in Europe is very low indeed”, said British Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt. She stressed there is “no evidence whatsoever” that bird flu can spread from human to human and added: “A pandemic is something we have to prepare for”. --- AFP.