ASEAN countries have not done enough in stockpiling anti-viral drugs for protecting their people from avian influenza and a possible virus pandemic in the region, say health experts.

Robert G Webster, professor at St Jude Children´s Research Hospital, said Southeast Asian nations had not stockpiled sufficient doses of the anti-viral drug oseltamivir for their population. .

It is very essential for ASEAN countries to build collaboration and come up with a measure to control the spread of bird flu in terms of vaccination and medicine stockpiling for their people by themselves, he said during the ASEAN Parliamentary seminar on the spread of avian influenza. .

``Don´t rely on the United States. You have to do it on your own,´´ he warned. .

Many countries were stockpiling anti-viral drugs for their population. Hong Kong had already announced plans to beef up its stocks of the drugs and other countries such as France, Britain, New Zealand, Sweden and Canada have also placed significant orders. However, very little information of drug stockpiling had been reported from countries in the ASEAN region despite ASEAN being pointed out as a virus ground-zero, he said. .

An American health expert insisted that ASEAN member nations needed to work with pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine against bird flu and produce sufficient oseltamivir doses for use in their countries as soon as possible. .

Oseltamivir, made by Switzerland´s Roche Ag and also known as Tamiflu, has been singled out by the World Health Organization as its drug of choice to restrict the spread of bird flu in case of a human flu pandemic. .

He believed compulsory licensing was not the best answer to tackle the problem even though the developing countries had the right to issue it and make generic copies of patented drugs in the event of a medical emergency. The medicine was in high demand the world over. .

In Thailand, stringent bird flu surveillance on poultry and humans proved effective as there had been no new cases of human infections since October last year. However, only surveillance was not enough and a back-up measure was also needed to control the killer virus which was still a source of worry and likely to remain endemic in the region for years. .

In addition, surveillance systems in poor neighbouring countries like Cambodia and Vietnam were still inadequate due partly to a lack of public awareness, he said. .

Dr Webster pointed out that bird flu could remain widespread because it stemmed from free-range ducks farming, which was evident across the region, especially in Thailand and Vietnam. The only solution left was to cull all the country´s infected ducks, which was almost impossible. .

Ducks have become the reservoir of H5N1 strain of the avian flu. .

The highly pathogenic virus exists in ducks in a benign form but can evolve and cause a pandemic that, if it struck the region today, could affect up to 26 million people in Asia. .

Thailand only has a stockpile of 30,000 doses of oseltamivir for its 60 million-strong population. .