“The international community has to realize that some poor countries in Asia living with the bird flu virus must receive more support to intensify precautionary measures and to contain the risks associated with the disease,” the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said in a joint statement with the World Animal Health Organization (OIE), a 167-member inter-governmental organization.

Since February 2004, donors have provided around $18 million for emergency activities and capacity building, but much more resources are urgently needed, with a new wave of outbreaks in Viet Nam and Thailand clearly showing that the avian virus remains endemic in Asia, the agencies added. Recent experience shows that it may be impossible to eradicate the virus soon.

“The disease will be present for several years in the countries that experienced outbreaks during 2004. Avian influenza is an ongoing emergency disease that spreads across borders. It has serious implications for the public and animal health sector in the affected countries,” they said. “The battle against bird flu can only be won if more efforts and resources are directed to containment of the virus in animals in rural areas.”

Although the statement made no more specific reference to the human risk, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that continuing transmission to humans of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), which has already killed more than three dozen people in Asia over the past year, could give rise to a new human virus with pandemic potential.

Such pandemics can be especially deadly. The so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-20, which was not related to bird flu, is estimated to have killed 20 million people worldwide.

In the latest outbreak, WHO has received reports from Viet Nam of 12 new human cases since mid-December, nine of them fatal. The agency has warned that cooler winter temperatures and increased poultry marketing, transportation and consumption linked to the Lunar New Year this month could increase the risk of further human cases.

FAO/OIE said the recent Indian Ocean tsunami disaster may also worsen the situation due to the large-scale movement of poultry. FAO is sending an expert mission to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives this week to assess the loss to the livestock sector and future rehabilitation needs.

Bird flu outbreaks last years were reported in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam. Beyond the human toll more than 100 million birds were culled in an effort to curb its spread.