U.S. Health Watch

The people of the world are so scared right now of the threat of the H5N1 strain. The focus of the world seems to have transferred from terrorism to bird flu.

If the H5N1 strain mutates and joins with a human virus, the situation will become worse. This is because the transmission rate from one person to another will become a possibility. Then the spread rate will become faster and causing a whole lot of people to get infected.

The severe effects of the virus will eventually lead the victim to have lung damage. The affected person will have lungs filled with water and causing complications with breathing problems. Eventually, death follows. This all happens within the span of a few days.

That scary situation has been a major concern and has caused bird flu experts to meet in Beijing. They are worried about the 80 deaths that have occurred since 2003. They are also worried about the spread of the disease on Europe, Middle East and currently Africa. They have a great concern about the disease in Africa, because the experts feel the outbreak might start at Africa.

The World Bank is hoping that the meeting held would be able to raise at least $1.2 billion dollars. This money is to be used for health improvement and added veterinary services for developing countries struggling with the virus. The budget also aims to help surveillance of countries that have potential to develop the virus.

The disease started out at East Asia but is concern is growing because it is going westward.

The $1.2-1.4 billion dollars will be just enough to prepare in case an outbreak occurs. That money still does not include the money needed for human vaccines. The money needed for vaccines will be handled by WHO separately.

The meeting will be attended by 89 countries. People who will attend include donors and also delegates of more than 20 international organizations.

The creator of the tamiflu vaccine, Roche, has pledged a second donation of Tamiflu. They already made a donation of 3 million pills and plan to donate 2 million more. The donation is for preparation in case a pandemic does occur.

It has been estimated that a year long pandemic of bird flu will cost the global economy $800 billion. The World Bank itself has helped, approving $500 million to help reach the $1.2 billion goal.

This threat may or may not materialize. But we should just be thankful for the people who gives a concern of the potential threat this virus has. It does not only affect us in terms of mortality rate but you can see how much expensive it is for the world.