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Nations in Asia and Africa have had much success in stopping the spread of bird flu, but experts meeting in Bangkok this week say the H5N1 virus continues to spread in a number of countries. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from Bangkok.

Experts with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization say bird flu is still considered an animal disease, affecting only a small number of humans so far. But they say the threat of a human pandemic, in which millions could die, is still very real.

Dr. David Nabarro
Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations' senior Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, told reporters in Bangkok Wednesday that while most nations have made progress in containing the virus' spread, there remain some problem areas.

"We've seen during the last three years that countries have invested a lot of resources in vaccination of poultry, in improving veterinary services, and also in what we call bio-security, in order to try to reduce the risk of...avian influenza continuing to circulate in poultry or in wild birds," he said. "We've seen in many countries, extraordinary success in getting this under control: (but) not everywhere. There's some problems in the region."

He says the virus continues to spread in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam in Asia, and Egypt and Nigeria in Africa.

Experts say nations that have yet to develop an export-oriented poultry industry are finding it more difficult to contain the disease.

They say Thailand, as one example, has had greater success in controlling bird flu, because it already had a veterinary system in place to support its sizable poultry exports.

Another challenge that could hinder efforts to contain the spread of H5N1 is the reluctance by some countries to hand over tissue samples of bird flu cases. China is one of them. Dr. Nabarro says negotiations continue in efforts to get Beijing to disclose more data and materials that could help scientists develop a vaccine.

"There are some situations in which countries have asked for clarification on the benefits that they're likely to get as a result of sharing samples, and there is some international negotiation under way at the moment to try to establish a satisfactory basis for sample-sharing by seeing whether or not it will be possible to ensure that those who do provide samples are able to benefit from products that are produced with the help of those samples," he said.

Experts say Beijing's concerns have to do with intellectual property rights to any vaccine that is developed with data or research originating in China. Indonesia has hesitated to supply tissue samples for similar reasons.

Representatives of several nations are scheduled to meet in Geneva later this month to address those concerns and talk about setting up a new international standard of sharing information and samples.

The H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus mainly affects birds and has struck primarily in Asia, but it has also appeared in Europe and Africa. Since its appearance in Hong Kong in 1997, the H5N1 virus has killed at least 211 people in eleven countries. Tens of millions of poultry have died or been slaughtered due to the disease.

The World Health Organization says all evidence to date indicates that close contact with dead or sick birds is the principal source of human infection. Scientists say they are mainly concerned about the virus in animals for now, but fear that the virus could mutate and become easily transmissible between humans.
US Colleges Offer Unusual Classes
By Ted Landphair
Washington, DC
06 November 2007

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Every academic discipline has its artifacts ? the slide rule, the test tube, the computer. This is one from Equestrian Science
College students who are struggling through anthropology or biochemistry classes like to poke fun at the easy courses that are sometimes offered to athletes on campus. The jocks, as they're called, take all sorts of physical education classes ?as if they weren't already in shape. In some places, football strategy is a course offering.

These are "easy-A" subjects, meaning it's a snap to get the top grade. Sometimes they're called "Mickey Mouse" courses because a child could pass them.

No doubt this fellow "aced," or got an A grade in, that most rigorous of courses: Underwater Basket Weaving
The classic is "underwater basket weaving," which most people think is a silly joke ?a spoof of the genre of easy-to-pass courses. But underwater basket weaving really is a skill, and there are classes in it at three or four U.S. colleges.

And nowadays, athletes can point elsewhere on campus and say, "Look, we're not the only ones." At Green Mountain College in Vermont, students can major ?meaning take a large number of their courses ?in whitewater rafting. Saint Lawrence University in New York has a course in Neanderthals, as in prehistoric cavemen. Equestrian, or horse, science is an entire curriculum at Texas Christian University. You can get a degree in dance education at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama.

This looks like a job for a graduate from one college's "concrete management" curriculum
And Middle Tennessee State University has a solid program called "concrete management" ?concrete, as in the hard stuff you mix from cement, stones, and water.

Each of these schools can make an erudite case for the merits of such coursework. Construction companies need smart managers who can cure concrete, after all.

For sure, higher education has become a lot more pragmatic since the days when students squeaked through Latin. Why, before long, somebody will be offering a course in how to play computer video games!

Wait ?we found one! ?at Palomar College in California.