Damion Mitchell, News Coordinator - Radio

WASHINGTON, D.C.:

United States officials are reporting that the deadly strain of the bird flu disease could spread to Latin America and Caribbean territories as the virus has been affecting more countries.

Addressing foreign journalists in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Ambassador John Lange of the Department of State Avian Influenza Group said the number of countries in the Eastern Hemisphere with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus has moved to 55, resulting in 252 human infections and 148 deaths.

He said this was a significant increase over the 14 countries, which had the virus at the start of the year.

"We fear that at some point it will attack countries in the Western Hemisphere," Ambassador Lange said, adding that bird flu could be transmitted though illegally imported birds as well as migratory birds.

Border control strategies

Responding to questions, Ambassador Lange would not assess the Caribbean's border control strategies to prevent the illicit importation of birds, but noted that proper surveillance and transparency by Government's agriculture officials are very critical.

It is estimated that of the 560 million people living in Latin America and the Caribbean, about 130 million are in rural areas with most of them having direct contact with birds and pigs to provide the 70 per cent of protein consumed from poultry in the region.

"It makes it very, very difficult when you have small farmers with small flocks and they don't have the money available for all the bio-security measures necessary," said the Ambassador, noting that should bird flu reach Caribbean countries, it could devastate their economies.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Lange said the United States government is providing US$392 million to assist countries worldwide to facilitate efforts against the bird flu. However, he could not immediately say what amount would be donated to countries from the region.