The US government will host an international conference this week, bringing together over 65 countries, on the bird flu virus in a bid to streamline an international response to a possible global pandemic, a government spokesman said.
Seven people have died of bird flu, or the H5N1 strain of avian flu, in Indonesia, while 43 have been killed in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia.
The World Health Organization fears the H5N1 strain will mutate, acquiring genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious and lethal to millions in a global pandemic.
But it has also urged calm, saying investigations in Indonesia had produced no evidence that H5N1 was spreading easily from person to person.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US-hosted conference here would kick off Thursday and run through to Friday.
"What this event does is it brings together 65-plus countries and international organizations that are concerned about preventing the spread of avian influenza," McCormack explained.
The spokesman said participating countries have either signed up to or will hopefully soon sign up to a core set of principles unveiled by the US at the UN in September.
"At the heart of these core principles are a few things. One, transparency, in terms of quick and accurate reporting of any potential outbreaks; donor support for those countries that either have been affected or might be affected; and a pledge to work closely with the World Health Organization," he said.
US President George W. Bush called for a "new international partnership" aimed at preventing avian influenza and other new strains of flu from becoming a global pandemic during an address to the UN General Assembly last month.
The American president told reporters Tuesday that his administration was concerned about a possible global epidemic and was studying various scenarios for dealing with an outbreak.
