The Group of Seven industrialized countries pledged Friday to reinforce efforts to tackle the threat of bird flu, including boosting capacity to produce human flu vaccines in case it generates a pandemic, AP reported. U.S. Deputy Health Secretary Alex Azar said bird flu was the «major theme» of the two-day conference in Rome about global health risks. Health officials from the G-7 countries, as well as representatives from Mexico and the European Union said in a statement that they would continue to compare national plans to prepare against any human flu pandemic. They fear a mutation of the H5N1 avian flu strain could spawn such a pandemic among people. «It is essential that we keep these under review,» said British Deputy Health Minister Rosie Winterton. «They cannot be set in stone.» Participating countries also said they had agreed to work with the U.N. World Health Organization to increase production capacity and access to vaccines. Bird flu has ravaged poultry stocks across Southeast Asia since 2003. The virus has infected humans there _ most of them poultry workers _ and has killed at least 64 people. Experts are afraid that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form easily spread from human to human. --More 2156 Local Time 1856 GMT
