Representatives of Asia Pacific countries meeting in Australia agreed Tuesday to coordinate their responses in the event of a bird flu pandemic and test their readiness to deal with it, dpa reported. Delegates to the gathering in Brisbane pledged to come up with a "regional cooperation mechanism" through which an affected country could draw on the resources of less affected ones. The two-day conference was attended by more than 100 disaster management specialists from the 21 countries linked in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer stressed the importance of countries being open and honest when a bird flu outbreak occurred and not trying to cover it up for fear of damage to the local economy. It was a point taken up by John MacArthur, the Bangkok-based infectious diseases adviser to the United States Agency for International Development. "The message of transparency was clear across the table," MacArthur said. Health Minister Tony Abbott, the host of the APEC gathering, said it was important that populations were mentally prepared for a virulent human strain of the bird flu virus. Earlier this month Abbott canvassed the possibility that all 20 million Australians could be vaccinated against bird flu next year if a vaccine being developed locally is shown to be effective. Modelling by the Health Department suggested there could be 13,000 deaths, 58,000 hospitalisations and 2.7 million people seeking medical attention if the pandemic reached Australia, Abbott said. But a procession of speakers urged against panic, saying that all 21 APEC countries except Papua New Guinea had a pandemic preparedness plan in place. Fewer than 100 people had succumbed to the H5N1 strain of the virus, 40 of them in Vietnam. --mor 1403 Local Time 1103 GMT
