RP gets help vs bird flu

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is providing technical assistance to the Philippines to ward off the bird flu virus that has hit its Asian neighbors, the agriculture department said yesterday.

The Rome-based FAO would provide international consultants as well as supervisory and advisory services under a $400,000 technical cooperation program to ensure that the virus does not infect Filipino people and poultry, a department statement said.

While the Philippines has been free of avian influenza, the FAO is including neighboring as well as "at risk" countries for its regional surveillance and disease diagnosis project.

Aside from the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar and East Timor are also receiving similar assistance, it added.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has attacked eight Asian countries – Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam – killing 22 people.

Parts of the United States, Canada, Pakistan and Taiwan have also reported less virulent strains. At least 100 million chickens have been culled in total. – AFP