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Bird flu far more dangerous than SARS: Researcher
Vienna, Jan 31: The outbreak of bird flu in Asia is far more dangerous than the lung disease SARS a year ago, Dutch co-discoverer of the SARS virus Albert Osterhaus said.
Vienna, Jan 31: The outbreak of bird flu in Asia is far more dangerous than the lung disease SARS a year ago, Dutch co-discoverer of the SARS virus Albert Osterhaus said.
The present situation had all the ingredients of a new influenza pandemic, he said at a press conference yesterday. Osterhaus was in Vienna to give a lecture at the presentation of ''Novartis Prizes 2003'' for Austrian life sciences.
''In 1957 there were two million deaths in this kind of epidemic. No country in the world is adequately prepared," said veterinarian and virologist Osterhaus.
SARS was only one example of a recent trend. ''In past decades we have repeatedly seen that pathogens transfer from animals to humans. With SARS, there was success in preventing a spread by an enorous international effort,'' he said.
But the agents of SARS were not nearly as infectious as those of influenza. If bird flu mutated to an illness which could transfer from human to human, the spread would probably be unstoppable.
''Influenza viruses are simply too infectious, and spread like a bush fire,'' said Osterhaus. Bureau Report
''In 1957 there were two million deaths in this kind of epidemic. No country in the world is adequately prepared," said veterinarian and virologist Osterhaus.
SARS was only one example of a recent trend. ''In past decades we have repeatedly seen that pathogens transfer from animals to humans. With SARS, there was success in preventing a spread by an enorous international effort,'' he said.
But the agents of SARS were not nearly as infectious as those of influenza. If bird flu mutated to an illness which could transfer from human to human, the spread would probably be unstoppable.
''Influenza viruses are simply too infectious, and spread like a bush fire,'' said Osterhaus. Bureau Report