23 May 2008

BONN - Greater international cooperation on bird flu and the setting up of an early warning system to counter the disease were needed, members of an international bird flu task force warned Friday.

Speaking at a major UN biodiversity conference in Bonn, the experts from international and non-governmental organisations presented a scientific evaluation of measures taken to prevent an outbreak of the potentially fatal H5N1 virus.

They called for greater expertise at government level, along with increased exchange of information between experts and decision- makers.

The executive secretary of the UN's Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), Robert Hepworth, said the task force had come up with specific measures to halt the spread of the virus at national level.

The task force was unequivocally opposed to killing wild fowl and destroying their habitats, he said.

Practices like these worked against international conservation and could even increase the risk of infection, he said.

[dpa / Expatica]