Un responsable de l'OMS estime qu'une pandémie de grippe aviaire pourrait contaminer un milliard de personnes et en tuer des millions

[laina]

Une pandémie de grippe aviaire pourrait contaminer jusqu’à un milliard de personnes dans le monde et en tuer entre deux et sept millions, a indiqué mardi un responsable de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS).

Ces estimations sont fondées sur des modèles mathématiques utilisés lors des précédentes épidémies de grippe, a précisé Jean-Marc Olive, représentant de l’OMS aux Philippines.

«La prochaine pandémie pourrait provoquer un taux de morbidité (nombre de malades) et de mortalité très élevé en quelques semaines. Cela pourrait entraîner un milliard de cas et deux à sept millions de morts», a-t-il déclaré lors d’un forum sur le sujet.

La grippe aviaire a fait 172 morts depuis sa résurgence fin 2003, principalement en Asie. Les contaminations sont pour l’instant limitées aux contacts entre des volailles et l’homme mais les experts craignent que le virus mute en une souche plus facilement transmissible entre humains, ce qui pourrait provoquer une pandémie à l’échelle planétaire.

M. Olive a estimé qu’un pandémie pourrait être évitée grâce à des mesures radicales comme celle qu’avait adoptée Hong Kong en 1997, où sept personnes avaient trouvé la mort. Le territoire avait alors abattu l’ensemble de ses volailles.

[Rors]

Bird flu kills 5-year-old Indonesian girl
20 chickens died suddenly near her home; man in Vietnam hospitalized

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A five-year-old Indonesian girl from Central Java province has died of bird flu, a health ministry official said on Wednesday.

The girl from Wonogiri died last Thursday after being hospitalized on May 17 suffering from fever and respiratory problems, said Suharda Ningrum of the ministry’s bird flu center.

Authorities were still investigating the case, but at least 20 chickens had died suddenly near her home, the official said.

In Vietnam, a man infected with bird flu has been admitted to a hospital in Hanoi, becoming the first confirmed human case since November 2005, the state-run Tien Phong newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Tests confirmed the 30-year-old man was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus. The man comes from Vinh Phuc province near the capital, the newspaper said.

Officials and doctors at the Hanoi hospital could not be reached for comment.

Reuters
Updated: 9:25 a.m. ET May 23, 2007

[Rors]

French swans have deadly bird flu

France has now raised its bird flu threat level
Three swans found dead in eastern France were victims of the H5N1 bird flu virus that can be fatal to humans, tests have confirmed.
French officials raised the bird flu threat to high from moderate after the tests near the German border.

This is only the second outbreak of H5N1 in France. Early last year, 62 wild birds died of the virus in the centre of the country.

Nearly 200 people have died from the H5N1 strain worldwide.

Species barrier

Authorities in France had been carrying out tests on wild birds over the past week in several locations in the east.



The three swans that tested positive for H5N1 were found dead in a pond near the town of Assenoncourt.

With the elevation of the bird flu threat, domestic birds nationwide will be protected from contact with wild birds.

Last month the virus was found on two poultry farms in the Czech Republic.

Outbreaks were reported last year in 13 European Union countries, although none has yet resulted in human deaths.

The virus is highly contagious to birds.

Although experts say the disease cannot easily jump the species barrier, there are fears it will mutate into a virus that can be transmitted from human to human.

bbcnews.com
05/07/07