UN Says Bird Flu Could Devastate Africa

From the VOA, this article and related voice reporting:

U.N. experts are warning that Africa is a likely new location for the emergence of bird flu, and they say the spread of the virus onto the African continent could have devastating consequences unless governments move quickly to improve health and surveillance.

The warning came this week from world health experts taking part in a conference co-hosted by China. The conference was called to raise money to fight the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
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Officials with the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization said countries in Africa deserve special attention.

One FAO official told delegates in Beijing this week that if the disease were to become rooted in the African countryside, the consequences for a continent already devastated by hunger and poverty could be "truly catastrophic."

The whole article is worth reading.