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Bird Flu Could Infect 30% of
Costa Rican Population, Experts
Say
Costa Rican authorities say that
a pandemic breakout of "gripe
aviar" - bird flu - in America
could affect as many as 30% of
the Costa Rican population,
which would collapse the health
system and incapacitate other
services.
Up to 1 million in Costa Rica
could be infected, of which
authorities believe 450.000 will
need medical treatment.
At least that is what Carlos
Amayoa, the Costa Rican
representative of the
Organización Panamericana de la
Salud (OPS), which is
emphasizing to authorities that
the H5N1 virus that is currently
present in Asia has mutated from
transmission from birds to
humans and will soon pass from
human to human.
"We don't know when it will
reach America, but it will",
said the experts, who refused to
give a timeline. However, some
experts are daring to say the
virus will reach America as
early as October.
The alert comes from a discovery
in Indonesia where various
members of the same family were
infected. Authorities say that
the members infected each other,
discovery that the infection was
not of the definitive virus.
Amayoa said that the epidemic
will expand as it will be
difficult to control the
movement of those infected as
the symptoms do not appear
immediately. It will be
impossible to detain air
transport and the control
systems at the airports will be
of no use to detain the
spreading of the virus.
Amayoa added that in Central
America, Costa Rica is the
better equipped to handle the
coming epidemic, even though the
public is not prepared.
An OPS delegation will be in
Costa Rica on August 11 and 12
to determine the level of
preparation in Costa Rica. In
the event on an emergency,
schools and community centres
will be used to give medical
attention to patients in the
event of a failure in the
medical system.
"Those who get infected and
survive will become immune" said
Amayoa, who added that a vaccine
is at least six months away.
Yeserday, officials of the OPS
signed a deal with the Banco
Interamericano de Desarrollo for
financial support in the event
of the spreading of the
infection, including donating
funds to smaller countries to
develop their own emergency
plans.
To date, 150 million birds have
been sacrificed and 247 people
have been infected worldwide.
One half of those infected have
died.
Experts say that up to 70
million worldwide could die from
bird flu.
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