contingency plans to deal with possible bird flu pandemic

HANOI, Vietnam: Indonesia's president Friday urged Pacific Rim countries to intensify efforts to fight bird flu and draw up contingency plans to cope with an economic backlash if the disease becomes pandemic.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking to business executives at a conference ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings this weekend, warned that the bird flu virus has the potential to spread from human to human although there were still no signs of such transmission.

"We must develop comprehensive national preparedness plans, strengthen surveillance systems, build laboratory networks and intensify regional and international cooperation," Yudhoyono said in his speech.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 153 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, with well over a third of the human deaths in Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/17/asia/AS_GEN_APEC_Indonesia_Bird_Flu.php