Press release from The European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI)
Brussels, 17 October 2005

THE THREAT OF A PANDEMIC INFLUENZA OUTBREAK: EUROPE IS NOT PREPARED.
Influenza experts from all over Europe stress the need for the rapid establishment of a European Influenza Task Force

(Brussels) - The threat posed by a possible pandemic influenza outbreak is high on the social and political agenda, as currently outbreaks of avian influenza, which eventually might lead to a pandemic influenza outbreak in humans, seem to be looming over Europe like a sword of Damocles. However, the current influenza H5N1 infections in Turkey and in Rumania may not significantly increase the risk of a pandemic influenza outbreak in humans. Says Prof. Dr. Albert Osterhaus, chairman of the European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI), a network of 20 international organisations and 9 European pharmaceutical companies: “Isolated outbreaks of avian influenza in Europe are, of course, a problem in terms of economy, animal welfare and biodiversity, but the threat to public health will probably be manageable, largely due to the lessons learned during the 2003 bird flu outbreak in The Netherlands: if the proper measures for animal and public health are taken, such outbreaks may be contained with limited consquences for human health."

Yet ESWI states that a human influenza pandemic killing many millions of people may be imminent. The highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza virus is continuing to circulate in Asia. If this avian influenza virus further adapts to humans and develops the capability to efficiently spread from human to human, a new influenza virus strain may emerge against which the vast majority of the world’s human population has no immunity. Unprecedented rapid spread of such a pandemic virus worldwide can be expected given the high level of global traffic and trade. No country would be spared and there would be little or no time to react.

ESWI, aiming to facilitate communication on critical issues for influenza control, urges the creation of a European Influenza Task Force (EIT) in order to accelerate Europe’s preparedness for the next pandemic outbreak of influenza. This should be achieved by coordinating national plans, tracking disease developments, overseeing pandemic influenza vaccine development and anti-viral production and stockpiling, promoting best practice in all member states and facilitating communication among all stakeholders in the combat against influenza. Antiviral stockpiling is indeed an important aspect of influenza pandemic preparedness and many European countries have decided to do so. However, the rapid development and production of a human pandemic influenza vaccine will be equally crucial when a pandemic emerges and therefore ESWI calls upon the European authorities to stimulate and establish public private partnerships in order to develop and test prototype pandemic vaccines for safety and efficacy in clinical trials as soon as possible. In addition a real time monitoring system of influenza virus infections in migratory birds should be established in a Europe-wide integrated network, in which influenza virologists and ornithologists closely collaborate. This will provide an early warning system for the introduction of influenza viruses that may threaten poultry and eventually other animal species, including humans, from avian reservoirs.

Today collaboration in the combat against influenza should greatly be improved between the European and global governments, institutions, NGO's, UN organisations and experts in the fields of e.g. human and animal health, virology, epidemiology, pathology, ecology and agriculture, as well as communication specialists and experts in translating science into policy. Representatives of the European influenza vaccine and antiviral industries should also be included in the European Influenza Task Force to facilitate the establishment of preparedness and intervention strategies for influenza outbreak situations in animals and humans in Europe.

In conclusion, ESWI strongly advocates the establishment of a European Influenza Task Force that among other tasks, should immediately focus on the establishment of early warning systems and pandemic preparedness plans for the next pandemic influenza outbreak, with active participation of all the European stakeholders.