Researchers have asked the World Health Organization to investigate the possibility of building the labs across the world to detect outbreaks of bird flu. They are already ready to invest $1.9bn from various developed countries where the investigation with bird flu virus is already being done.
Tony Blair while facing questions in the House of Commons about the UK's preparedness for an outbreak of bird flu insisted that precautions were adequate. He proposed to set up labs across the world.Britain's most prestigious scientific organization, the Royal Society announced a taskforce of scientists, doctors and industry experts to examine whether the country's policies for dealing with an outbreak are scientifically sound.
Sir John Skehel, director of the National Institute for Medical Research who is chairing the taskforce, said that lot about the disease is unknown and it is necessary that we use as much expertise as we can to identify any of these gaps.
The main aim of the taskforce is to improve the existing knowledge of how the virus might spread, and finding new targets for vaccines.
The labs play an important role in early detection of the bird flu virus mutation in to the one that is easily transmissible between humans.
Jean-Paul Chretien at the US Department of Defence global emerging infections surveillance and response system in Maryland and David Blazes of the US naval medical research centre detachment in Peru, called on the international community to use a disease monitoring network set up by the US military as a model for the global network. Other labs in Indonesia and Egypt along with WHO-aligned laboratories as a front-line defence against future pandemics will be of great help in eradicating the disease completely.
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