GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) - The world still faces a substantial threat of a flu pandemic and countries need to speed up preparations for a global outbreak, health experts said Tuesday.

"We can't delude ourselves. The threat of a pandemic influenza has not diminished," said Keiji Fukuda, co-ordinator for the World Health Organisation's Global Influenza Programme.

Fukuda spoke to a meeting of around 150 health experts from governments, WHO and other agencies to update WHO's pandemic influenza preparedness plan.

Scientists fear that the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus - which began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003 - could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic that kills millions. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.

Fukuda said more than 150 countries had some kind of national preparedness plans but some of them were merely a piece of paper acknowledging the risk.

He said it was crucial that all levels of society were involved in the preparations and that everyone knows where to go for information.

"If somebody is sick in the family, for example, and it's difficult to get to hospital, they need to know what sort of advice might be available," Fukuda told The Associated Press.

WHO says 382 people have come down with bird flu since 2003, and that 241 of them have died. Indonesia, with 108 of the deaths, is seen by experts as a potential hotspot for a pandemic.

WHO is updating its 2005 preparedness plan to include progress in research on flu viruses, stronger international co-operation and experience with human cases of bird flu.
"Our understanding of the virus, the effects on people, the epidemiology, how viruses move around the world, is much greater than it was a few years ago and this continues," Fukuda said.

Stockpiles of antivirals have been built since 2005, he said. WHO has stockpiled a total of five million antiviral treatment courses ready to be handed out if a pandemic breaks out.
He said the development of a possible pandemic vaccine have made significant strides.

"A few years ago it would not have been possible to talk about pandemic vaccines," he said. "All of a sudden we have new things to work with."

Experience and research over the last few years have led experts to believe that it is possible to stop a pandemic influenza right at the beginning of the outbreak, said Fukuda, adding that they recognised it will be difficult.

Fukuda said the WHO would take into account the revised International Health Regulations in updating its pandemic preparedness plan, which is expected to be published by the end of the year.

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