ROME - The deadly avian influenza virus from poultry has been eliminated in most of the 63 countries it infected at the peak of the world outbreak in 2006 - but it still poses a threat to animal and human health, a United Nations agency warned on Friday. The H5N1 virus remains entrenched in five nations - Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and China - the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. The progressive control of H5N1 in such countries remains an international priority, according to FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth. Though public attention shifted to the so-called swineflu influenza A virus pandemic - caused by the H1N1 virus - H5N1 continues to be a serious menace, as long as it is present "in even one country," Lubroth said. "We should not forget that it has killed 292 humans, killed or forced the culling of more than 260 million birds, caused an estimated 20 billion dollars of economic damage across the globe and devastated livelihoods at the family-farm level," he said. Lubroth was speaking ahead of the International Ministerial Conference on Animal and Pandemic Influenza in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, April 19. The H5N1 strain of avian influenza remains established in places where tens of millions of free-ranging domestic ducks are present, significant industrial broiler production exists together with live bird markets, and where human and animal densities are high, FAO said. The Hanoi ministerial conference is intended to marshal international cooperation against future infectious diseases drawing on experience gained in responses to pandemic A/H1N1 influenza and H5N1 avian influenza
