ROME (Reuters) - Bird flu, which has claimed 16 human victims, is not under control and could spread to other regions without emergency preventative measures, experts from three international agencies said Thursday.The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the world animal health body (OIE) said in a joint statement that a targeted vaccination of poultry would help halt the spread of the disease.
"Without the implementation of appropriate methods of disease control the risk of epidemic spread to further countries, including those in distant regions, is likely to remain high," the statement said.
A teenage girl became the 16th victim of an Asian-wide outbreak of bird flu, a Vietnamese doctor said Thursday. Some 10 countries have reported outbreaks of bird flu, with 11 human deaths in Vietnam and five in Thailand.
The FAO, WHO and OIE experts said at the end of a two day meeting in Rome that bird flu would remain a threat to humans as long as Asian poultry remained infected, but said they were hopeful the disease could be tamed.
"We are confident that with broad international and regional collaboration in support of national efforts and using all available intervention tools, the crisis can be overcome and the risk to human health be minimized," said Joseph Domenech, Chief of FAO's Animal Health Service.
The statement said culling animals remained the recommended action when the disease was detected but that vaccinations, together with other control measures, would help halt the spread of the epidemic.
