WHO regional office warns of recurrence of avian influenza virus
MANILA, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organization (WHO)Thursday warned that the recent appearance and widespread distribution of an avian influenza virus, Influenza A/H5N1, has the potential to ignite the next pandemic and result in unpredictable calamities.
The WHO's Regional Office for the Western Pacific said in a statement that all countries should develop or update their influenza pandemic preparedness plans for responding to the widespread socioeconomic disruptions that would result from having large numbers of people unwell or dying.
According to the WHO, the focus of the preparedness plans is an estimate of how deadly the next pandemic is likely to be, whose answers from experts have ranged from 2 million to over 50 million.
However, the WHO said that the specific characteristics of a future pandemic virus cannot be predicted. It is also unknown how pathogenic a novel virus would be, and which age groups will be affected.