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HANOI, Oct 18 (AP): The world needs at least six more months to prepare for a possible pandemic caused by bird flu, with poor countries in Asia needing help in financing emergency plans, the United Nations' coordinator for bird and human influenza says.
Dr. David Nabarro said it is important for countries to pay attention to researchers' warnings now so the world can try to prevent a flu pandemic that could skip across borders and oceans, possibly causing "billions, even trillions" of dollars in damage.
As bird flu spreads among poultry stocks, most recently in Turkey and Romania, Nabarro urged calm and preparedness.
He said it's impossible to know what would happen to societies if millions of people suddenly became sick and started dying. There hasn't been a killer bug on that scale since 1918, when the Spanish flu killed up to 50 million people and sickened 20 per cent to 40 per cent of the world's population.
"We don't have a simple way to reassure people, but at the same time, we also shouldn't make people feel any kind of false comfort," he said in an interview Monday. "We have to find the right blend between some fear and some sense of real preparedness and willingness to respond."
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