The World Health Organization (WHO)Regional Director for the Western Pacific Region Dr. Shigeru Omi has called for an all-out war on avian influenza and warned of the threat of new emerging diseases, said a WHO Western Pacific Regional Bureau news release on Tuesday.

    "While we still have a window of opportunity, we must do everything we can to avert an influenza pandemic as we simultaneously prepare for a worse-case scenario," said Omi in his address to the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific meeting in New Caledonia on Monday.

    He said avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, and the earlier outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) "are not the only emerging diseases we can expect to confront in this new century." He also said that this is the third consecutive year that the Western Pacific Region has battled a disease that has emerged from the animal world.

    Bird flu has now affected 11 countries since its detection in South Korea in December 2003, killing 57 people so far, and some of the affected countries do not have the resources to fully address the problems of prevention, surveillance, detection and outbreak control, said the WHO regional director.

    He said that while the flu virus remains unable to spread effectively from human to human, it is resilient, unpredictable, unstable and extremely versatile.

    Omi called on affected countries to build capacity to detect the virus in animals and humans, including strengthening laboratory capacity to promptly and accurately examine specimens from suspected cases, and to take rapid action to prevent the spread of the disease, such as slaughtering infected poultry and restricting the movement of commercial poultry, as well as immunization of poultry in selected areas.

    He also urged the affected countries to improve animal husbandry practices to minimize the spread of infection from one species to another, stockpile antivirals and strategically position them in high-risk areas, intensify efforts in vaccine development and prepare for the massive social and economic disruptions that would accompany a pandemic.