Bird flu center opened to protect S Asia
April 07, 2008
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has opened a
regional center in Thailand stocked with supplies to combat a
potential outbreak of avian influenza (AI) in Southeast Asia,
according to a press release issued on Monday.
Larger than a soccer field, the Bangkok warehouse contains enough
personal protective equipment (PPE), decontamination kits and
laboratory equipment to serve tens of thousands of people throughout
Southeast Asia, said the press release from the USAID mission in
Cambodia.
"Stockpiles of PPE are one critical component of the U.S. government's
emergency pandemic preparedness in order to provide protection to
first-responders to disease outbreak," said Erin Soto, USAID/Cambodia
Mission Director.
"With the establishment of this regional distribution center in
Thailand, the USAID is in a position to rapidly re-supply the MAFFin
the advent of an AI outbreak," he added.
The first of three regional centers being planned worldwide, the depot
will ensure a rapid response to any outbreaks of the deadly H5N1
virus, the release said, adding that the USAID spent nearly 550,000
U.S. dollars stocking the Bangkok depot.
In May 2007, USAID/Cambodia donated 4,500 PPE kits and 50
decontamination kits to Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries (MAFF).
Bird flu remains a major threat throughout the region with the risk
that the virus might mutate and attack humans. Worldwide, the H5N1
virus has been confirmed in more than 330 people, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which estimates
that flu pandemics routinely occur about every 35 years.
Source: Xinhua
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