Africa meets to fight bird flu after first death

U.N. and government officials from across Africa met on Monday for the region's biggest summit so far to tackle bird flu after it claimed its first human victim on the continent.

Egypt, one of four African countries known to have the disease, said over the weekend the virus was found in the blood of a dead woman, the first human casualty on the continent, which experts fear is the least prepared to handle a mass outbreak.

The H5N1 avian influenza strain has killed at least 98 people around the world, mainly in Asia and the Middle East, since 2003, according to figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Experts say that weak medical, veterinary and laboratory capacity on the world's poorest continent, coupled with the fact many Africans live closely with chickens and other fowl, could leave them vulnerable to contracting the disease from birds.

Major existing killer diseases and epidemics like malaria and HIV/AIDS could also hinder control of outbreaks in Africa - especially if, as scientists fear, the virus mutates to pass directly from one person to another in a pandemic.

"The threat to human health from bird flu must be taken into account in African countries and financial means committed to strengthening their epidemiological capacity," Mike Ryan, WHO director for Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response, said in a statement ahead of Monday's summit.

Delegates from 46 African countries were expected to attend the summit in Gabon's capital Libreville, along with senior United Nations officials including U.N. bird flu coordinator David Nabarro. It was expected to end on Wednesday.

Apart from the death in Egypt, delegates at the meeting have plenty to focus their minds.

Gabonese authorities dispatched experts on Sunday to take samples from a number of dead birds found in the centre of the oil-producing country. Tests were due to be carried out but there was no immediate indication of bird flu.

Neighbouring Cameroon has confirmed an H5N1 outbreak in its north near Nigeria, which is already infected along with Niger.

Africa has held two major meetings to plan its response to bird flu - one in the Republic of Congo capital Brazzaville in January and another in Senegal's capital Dakar last month.

Both meetings ended with calls for more donor aid to help the poorest continent head off a potential bird flu epidemic.

Donors pledged $1.9 billion at a special conference in China in January to help developing countries strengthen health and veterinary services and boost global surveillance measures.

But individual countries must produce specific applications to access the funds, and experts fear any delays will further limit Africa's ability to effectively combat the growing number of outbreaks within its shores.