Leading Experts Say World Not Yet Prepared for Flu Pandemic

A Leading United States expert on infectious diseases spoke out today saying that the world is not fully prepared for a flu pandemic.

Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. CDC said, "We are a long way from being fully prepared. We do not have a vaccine that will provide universal protection. We don't have surveillance in every country. We don't have control of the virus in animal reservoirs."

She also added that, "We have huge gaps in our basic understanding of influenza and what will be the trigger that allows it to move onto its next host and potentially become more transmissible to humans," she told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of an infectious diseases conference.

According to in WHO current figures H5N1 has infected a total of 385 people since late 2003 and has killed 243 of them.

In some troubling news Indonesia which has had the highest human casualty rate from the disease also recently announced that the country would not be as forth coming with the sharing of H5N1 data with the rest of the world. other

In other news experts are also saying that the H5N1 virus may worsen the global food shortage crisis as well.

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