Public Needs Preparing for Bird Flu - Experts

GENEVA (Reuters) - Governments must do a better job of informing the public and media about bird flu, including warnings that antiviral drugs may not save them if an influenza pandemic breaks out, experts said on Tuesday.

Margaret Chan, the top pandemic expert at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said that if the deadly H5N1 virus begins spreading more easily among people, "it will send a big wave of anxiety to communities".

"So the time to act, to have meaningful discussions and prepare them is now," Chan told a two-day meeting aimed at improving communication skills in health ministries and United Nations agencies.

"In a time of crisis, a government trusted by its people will have an easier task than one that does not," she added.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has infected more than 130 people in five Asian countries and killed 69 of them since late 2003. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form which would circle the globe in months, killing millions in a pandemic.

The WHO has urged wealthier states to stock antivirals for about one-third of their population - which could be hundreds of millions of doses.

But Klaus Stohr, head of the WHO's influenza programme, told the talks that the public should be reminded of the potential limitations of the drugs.

"We have no data whatsoever on antivirals reducing mortality. Governments are stockpiling antivirals. People expect that if they take Tamiflu, they are off the hook, they won't die - which is not going to happen," said Stohr.

Swiss drugmaker Roche has donated three million treatment courses of its antiviral Tamiflu for the WHO to set up an international stockpile. This could be used as a "fire blanket" to try to contain outbreaks in poorer countries.

Antiviral drugs can reduce the severity and duration of seasonal influenza, but clinical data on their impact on human cases of H5N1 infection are limited.

Stohr later told Reuters that despite the uncertainties, Tamiflu was the "best bet" for now as work continues to develop a vaccine against a potential pandemic strain which may emerge.

"There are many things about the next pandemic we don't know. At this point H5N1 is the most likely candidate, but it could be H7 or H9," said Chan.

Chan, who headed Hong Kong's health department during a 1997 bird flu outbreak and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in 2003, said that the WHO faced some other dilemmas in drawing up guidelines for health ministries.

The most difficult issues were whether to recommend wearing masks during an outbreak and imposing exit and entry controls at borders to check for flu symptoms among travellers - neither of which are scientifically justified - according to Chan. "We do have scientific answers. But my advice to heads of state and ministries is we really need to be guided by the sentiment of communities," she said.