GENEVA - The World Health Organisation said Tuesday that it had been holding talks with North Korea about bolstering measures against possible human cases of bird flu well before rumours emerged of the secretive country's first outbreak in chickens.
North Korea revealed on Sunday that it had detected the virus at two or three poultry farms in the capital and had destroyed hundreds of thousands of chickens, following about a week of unconfirmed reports about an outbreak
The UN's health agency, which has had an office inside North Korea for the past four years, said it had been in dialogue with the health ministry about the current outbreak there since last week, said spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.
"Before the rumours and the confirmation of bird flu in chickens, the WHO was in touch with North Korean authorities to help them to review their preparation in case of an epidemic of bird flu," added.
"The WHO had offered its help to the country to prepare for human cases of avian flu," Chaib told journalists. She did not say if the offer had been taken up.
No human cases had been reported and the UN's Food and Agriculture (FAO), was the lead international agency dealing with Pyongyang for now, Chaib emphasised.
A WHO official in Asia said the agency hoped to obtain a sample of the virus from North Korea for testing.
One strain of bird flu, H5N1, is known to jump from poultry to humans and since late 2003 has killed 48 people.
03/29/2005 11:28 GMT