This seems to be the end of the flu season and the start of the flu-conference season. Via IRIN: Urgent need to tackle transboundary animal diseases, says FAO. Excerpt:
Representatives from 32 countries have been meeting since 26 March in Bangkok at the biennial Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conference for Asia and the Pacific to consider issues such as food security.
A key discussion was the growing threat of transboundary animal diseases, which have gained prominence because of emerging zoonotic diseases - which can be transmitted from animals to humans - such as avian influenza.
“Over the past 10 years, disease outbreaks have affected millions of poor households dependent on livestock for livelihood and food security; [their] occurrence is now considered an emergency,” Carolyn Benigno, animal health officer with the FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, told the conference.
