WHO urges more attention to bird flu's human threat

The UN applauded Sunday the latest commitments to contain the bird flu ravaging Asian poultry stocks, but said more was needed to safeguard human health as funding to fight the outbreaks fell short of expectations.
A crisis meeting on avian influenza sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) concluded at the weekend that it would cost some 500 million dollars or more for emergency work and long-term eradication of the disease and rehabilitation of poultry industries.
But despite hopes that donor nations and agencies attending the Bangkok talks would put forward significant funding, the money made available only totalled around 10 million dollars, with just 2.5 million of that earmarked for research into the human side of the disease.