[…] Around the world today, governments, international and regional organizations and financial institutions, animal and human health experts, research institutions, emergency responders and many others have come together in an unprecedented way to bolster disease surveillance, outbreak assessment, preparedness, response and containment — and for the first time in history to ready nations in advance of a possible pandemic.

[…] The world is about 40 percent prepared to grapple with the social, economic and political impacts of an influenza pandemic, according to a U.N. official involved in the international effort. The estimate is based on an analysis in the Fourth Global Progress Report on Responses to Avian Influenza and State of Pandemic Readiness, released October 21 by the United Nations and the World Bank.

[…] Most emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses — animal diseases that can be transmitted to people — and most zoonoses arise from wildlife, so anywhere in the world that wild animals and people interact, a new disease can enter the human population.

Diseases that have entered the human population this way include HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome and highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu.

[…] “Newly developed international health mechanisms have resulted in a coordinated global approach [to avian flu and other infectious disease threats],” Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs and head of the U.S. delegation, told attendees October 25. “International focus on the twin threats,” she added, “both from the spread of avian influenza in domestic and migratory birds but also from a possible viral mutation that would cause a potentially devastating human pandemic, has led to action worldwide.”

[…] Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt: With the announcement of a new pledge of $320 million for avian and pandemic influenza assistance, U.S. support to international organizations and to more than 90 countries now totals $949 million. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Paula Dobriansky, announced the U.S. pledge today at the International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

[…] The Ministry of Health in Egypt, one of six countries where highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has become well-established, has worked to slash the time it takes for avian flu victims to be treated, giving Egypt the lowest fatality rate for H5N1 of any affected nation in the world. Since 2003, some 387 people in 15 countries have been infected by H5N1.

[…] The International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, which will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, is a collaboration among the Egyptian government, the European Union and the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza. The meeting also has support from the U.S. government, the European Commission and the United Nations system, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

[…] “In 2008 (up to the end of May),” the report reads, “12 countries/territories had notified the reoccurrence of [highly pathogenic avian influenza] subtype H5N1 following its previous eradication, thus indicating that the virus is continuing to circulate.” No other epizootic -- an epidemic among animals -- has lasted so long, OIE said in the report, or spread so far, so fast. But H5N1 is not the only avian flu virus subtype that could pose a long-term threat to birds and people.

[…] The GISN, established in 1952, is a global alert mechanism for seasonal flu and emerging flu viruses with pandemic potential. Its main components are national influenza centers that monitor patients with flu-like illnesses and submit virus samples to WHO collaborating centers for genetic analyses. Around the world, according to WHO, 382 people have been infected with highly pathogenic avian flu since 2003, and 241 have died.