The World Health Organization has continued its efforts to prepare for a possible worldwide pandemic of the bird flu. Thursday, the U.N. health body announced it has acquired three million doses of the drug Tamiflu to help prevent the spread of the deadly virus. The vaccines were donated by the drug's manufacturer, Swiss drug maker Roche.
The recent spread of the H5N1 avian flu has concerned health officials that a major outbreak is possible soon. The disease started in Vietnam and Cambodia but has spread to Russia and Kazakhstan in recent weeks.
'This donation is a critical early step designed to directly address an influenza pandemic at the place of origin, thereby potentially slowing the initial national and international spread of the virus,' WHO Director-General Lee Jong-Wook was quoted as saying in a statement issued by Roche.
'An influenza pandemic would be a serious threat to public health and it is therefore critical that all countries take steps now,' he added.
The WHO hopes to use the vaccines to prevent the spread of the disease once a major outbreak is discovered. By containing the disease, U.N. officials hope to limit the possible casualties.
WHO officials have said that if the bird flu evolves so that it can easily be spread by human-to-human contact, tens of millions of deaths are possible.
David Reddy, a Roche executive told Reuters, 'This will not be directed towards any specific country. The rationale is to have rapid access to a stockpile of Tamiflu which could be deployed in any country which forms the site of outbreak of an influenza outbreak,' he said.
Officials fear that a bird flu pandemic would be the worst flu outbreak since the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic which killed at least 30 million people worldwide between 1918-1921.
