Brazil, wary of bird flu, will import medicine
Brazil, the world's largest poultry exporter, said on Wednesday it ordered nine million doses of Tamiflu and was preparing to produce vaccines as part of a plan to combat a possible outbreak of bird flu.
The anti-viral medicine produced by Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) would be used mostly to treat hospitalized patients infected with the deadly virus and would cost 193 million reais ($85.8 million), Health Minister Saraiva Felipe said.
"The bird flu could become a millennium bug -- it could never happen. But we are working preventatively," Felipe told a news conference in Brasilia.
The fear is that a highly virulent strain of avian influenza, known as H5N1, will become a global pandemic. It has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and was recently discovered in Romania and Turkey. Greece is awaiting test results.
On Wednesday, the European Union said Russia reported that a deadly bird flu outbreak had spread west to around 200 km (124 miles) south of Moscow.
Colombia is the only South American country to have a confirmed case of bird flu. The government said on Monday it found a mild strain of avian influenza, not H5N1.
Brazil's agriculture authorities are also preparing a separate contingency plan focusing on the poultry industry.
In 2004, Brazil shipped 2.47 million tonnes of poultry abroad worth $2.6 billion, surpassing the United States as the world's leading exporter.
Brazil, with a population of about 180 million, will also give Instituto Butantan, a Sao Paulo biomedical research center R$3.1 million (US$1.38 million), to install facilities to produce a vaccine once one is available, Felipe said.
Felipe said he would detail the measures to 30 health ministers due to meet in Canada next week.
Brazil's other measures to combat a possible bird flu outbreak include higher fences at poultry farms and spot checks of migratory birds, which are said to spread the illness.
(Published Reuters, October 19, 2005)
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