UN Official Says World Must Act As If Flu Pandemic Imminent
January 25, 2006 by Adelle Tilton
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
U.N. official, Dr. David Nabarro, said that people need to change their behavior and thinking about the flu pandemic that the media has been covering so heavily recently. He feels that people are not clear on the urgency of the problem.
“It could be that we’re going to get human-to-human transmission tomorrow so please act as though it’s going to start tomorrow. Don’t keep putting off the difficult issues,” Dr. Nabarro said yesterday.
Dr. Nabarro also expressed concern about nations being “transparent” about the cases of avian flu they have or are experiencing. He particularly mentioned China, which has not released information about their ten cases and six deaths from the avian flu.
“Their view is they would like to feel that other countries who have samples or material would share them freely with Chinese scientists. They are putting a lot of importance on the notion of reciprocity (…), which they used to me on a number of occasions and I don’t know what it means,” Nabarro said.
“There is a sensation for all of us who are working on this of standing on the edge of a really deep precipice and not knowing how far we’re going to fall,” said Nabarro. “The moment the pandemic starts it’s too late to get prepared.”
UN Official Says World Must Act As If Flu Pandemic Imminent
