Following a new confirmed human case of bird flu in China’s south-eastern Anhui province, the United Nations health agency is joining a mission by the Chinese Health Ministry to investigate exposure to the virus, which in a worst case scenario could mutate into a human pandemic that could kill tens of millions of people.

Winding up a three-day United Nations-sponsored conference aimed at pre-empting a deadly human pandemic of bird flu, more than 600 delegates from over 100 countries today outlined a six-point global action plan, ranging from curbing the virus in birds to enhanced detection to funding for countries at risk.

Confronting the possibility of a potentially devastating human bird flu pandemic, the United Nations system – from Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the UN health and agricultural agencies – today laid out a blueprint for immediate preventive and mitigating action.

A new United Nations task force warned today against the "over-simplified" perception that wild birds are the main cause of avian flu, and urged immediate measures be taken among both domestic and wild bird populations to guard against its possible transference, while a UN task force in Indonesia begins a door-to-door campaign to help poultry farmers deal with the pathogen.