All but six of the World Health Organisation's 52 European member states have developed plans to fight an influenza pandemic, the WHO said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Macedonia, Moldova and Turkmenistan have reported they have no plans, whereas Russia, Monaco and San Marino have not replied, WHO said at a seminar with the European Commission on preparedness planning. The plans address coordination, antiviral drugs, healthcare, surveillance and communication in case of pandemic influenza -- of any kind, not specifically the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus strain, which has killed 62 people in Asia. H5N1 has been found among birds in Croatia, Romania, Turkey and Russia but no human cases have been reported in Europe. WHO said it would now check if national plans met its guidelines. The European Commission said it would assess the 25 European Union states in the coming weeks. The same level of preparedness could not be expected everywhere in the world given disparities of wealth, WHO said. "There is no way a country, which has a health budget of $10 per person a year can have a perfect plan or provide a large part of the population with antiviral drugs," said Bernardus Ganter, regional adviser at WHO in Europe. WHO recommends countries stockpile antiviral drugs for 20-25 percent of the population in case of an influenza pandemic. Swiss drug maker Roche is the only manufacturer of the antiviral drug Tamiflu and has said it will meet four generic manufacturers to discuss increasing production.
