Flu pandemic `catastrophe' for Canada

October 18, 2005

18 October 2005

Flu pandemic `catastrophe' for Canada

The following article is excerpted from the 18 October 2005 edition of the “Toronto Star”.

A bird flu pandemic could paralyze Canada's manufacturing sector for more than a year and cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in medical costs, the Conference Board of Canada says.

Sketching a worst-case scenario, the board warns up to 1.6 million Canadians — and between 180 and 360 million people worldwide — could die if a global pandemic is triggered by the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Hitching a ride on migrating birds, the virus has already travelled from Asia to Europe and yesterday, in preliminary testing, was identified in Greece.

The Conference Board's forecast far exceeds other casualty estimates, including those by Frank Plummer, lab director of the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, who said yesterday a human strain of the avian flu will kill up to 50,000 Canadians.

Despite the uncertainty over the numbers, experts agree the threat is enormous.

"There seems to be a consensus — there is a catastrophe coming," Conference Board president Anne Golden told a Star editorial board meeting yesterday….

Efforts to wall Canada off from the global pandemic will be futile, the Conference Board warns….

"This long-awaited flu virus is expected to be so contagious that any attempt to close off borders and control migration would be ineffective," the non-profit business body said in its 10th annual performance report, which identifies steps Canada should be taking to increase economic productivity.

The Conference Board report came as leaders in the worldwide fight against avian flu warned yesterday of the need for global co-operation in stopping the virus from spreading, and eradicating it….

U.S. Health Secretary Mike Leavitt, too, sounded a warning. "It would be my assessment that no nation is adequately prepared for a pandemic avian flu," Leavitt said. But, he added, "I believe that most nations are improving, and preparation is increasing."

WHO's influenza program director, Klaus Stoehr, said the big question is when. "We don't know whether a pandemic will break out in the coming weeks, months or only in years," Stoehr said. "But there's no question that, if such a pandemic occurs, we'll be looking at hundreds of thousands or even millions of deaths worldwide."…

WHO suspects Asia will be the cradle of any emerging human pandemic because containment efforts there are stymied by a culture where people and animals live in close proximity. …


Topic(s): 
Canadian Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel
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