China seeks WHO help in testing for bird flu
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-07 12:53

The world has seen four flu pandemics since 1890, the last one in the late 1960s. An ordinary flu epidemic kills thousands of people, but pandemics can be much worse. The 1918-1919 pandemic, known as the Spanish flu, killed up to 50 million people, WHO officials have said.

The death toll from a new pandemic could range from 5 million to 150 million people, said Dr. David Nabarro, a senior WHO expert appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in September to coordinate the global response.

The WHO considers a death toll of 7.4 million a more reasonable forecast, said Dick Thompson, the agency's flu spokesman.

A World Bank representative will chair a session in Geneva on how to pay for preparations at global, national and regional levels.

The cost could be enormous. Last week, President Bush proposed that the United States spend $7.1 billion to prepare for a flu pandemic.

North Korea, meanwhile, announced it was taking measures to prevent an outbreak.

Ministries have intensified quarantine at ports and airports, the official Korean Central News Agency said. Chicken farms also are barring visitors from entering and are sterilizing coops and vehicles, the agency said.

Also Sunday, authorities said tests determined that bird flu did not kill 100 pigeons in the Malaysian town of Bidor, about 75 miles north of Kuala Lumpur. More tests were being conducted to find the cause of death, said Hawari Hussein, an Agriculture Ministry official.

And in a policy aimed at preventing an outbreak of the disease in Hong Kong, the territory's government announced it would fine people $193 for feeding pigeons at public housing buildings.