WHO to host talks on containing bird flu pandemic
03 Mar 2006 16:28:24 GMT

GENEVA, March 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday that a meeting of experts next week will sharpen plans for containing any human influenza pandemic should an easily transmissible strain of bird flu emerge.

The WHO's "pandemic containment strategy", which calls for using quarantines and Roche's antiviral Tamiflu, will be discussed at three-day talks opening in Geneva on Monday, it said in a statement.

"The meeting will continue development of an operational guide for WHO and international public health authorities to use in an attempt to extinguish a pandemic in its initial stages," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing.

Some 30 epidemiologists, virologists, and laboratory experts will take part in the technical-level talks, along with health officials from affected countries.

But the United Nations agency concedes that its so-called "fire blanket" strategy is untested as the world has never before had advance warning that a pandemic may be imminent.