Post by Shadow on Oct 10, 2005 14:21:06 GMT -5
Yahoo
The United Nations health agency warned against "scaremongering" over an expected global flu pandemic, a day after one of its officials said it could claim 150 million lives.
Dick Thompson, spokesman for the World Health Organization's (WHO) anti-flu operations, said it is nearly impossible to predict the death toll of a global crisis that experts fear could be fueled by Asia's bird flu outbreak.
People should be wary of any figure they hear, because all are based on "guesswork," he said.
"We can't be dragged into further scaremongering," Thompson told reporters.
His comments came a day after David Nabarro, the newly-appointed UN coordinator for avian and human influenza, said a pandemic could kill "anything between five and 150 million."
That was highest figure cited by a UN official as the world body steps up its campaign to get governments to brace for a pandemic, which experts say is long overdue.
The United Nations health agency warned against "scaremongering" over an expected global flu pandemic, a day after one of its officials said it could claim 150 million lives.
Dick Thompson, spokesman for the World Health Organization's (WHO) anti-flu operations, said it is nearly impossible to predict the death toll of a global crisis that experts fear could be fueled by Asia's bird flu outbreak.
People should be wary of any figure they hear, because all are based on "guesswork," he said.
"We can't be dragged into further scaremongering," Thompson told reporters.
His comments came a day after David Nabarro, the newly-appointed UN coordinator for avian and human influenza, said a pandemic could kill "anything between five and 150 million."
That was highest figure cited by a UN official as the world body steps up its campaign to get governments to brace for a pandemic, which experts say is long overdue.