Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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October 26, 2008

US Pledges Additional $320 Million in Fight Against Bird Flu
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Pledge announced at international conference in Egypt at Red Sea resort
of Sharm el-Sheikh 
A U.S. official says the United States will provide an additional
320-million dollars for the global fight against bird flu. Paula
Dobriansky (file photo)Undersecretary
of State Paula Dobriansky announced the pledge Saturday at an
international bird flu conference in Egypt at the Red Sea resort of
Sharm el-Sheikh. She warned against complacency in fighting avian flu,
which the United Nations says could cause a pandemic. The
U.S. pledge brings to about $950 million Washington's total
contribution to fight bird flu, which has killed 245 people in Asia,
Africa and Europe since 2003. In some cases, the avian virus
has been passed from infected birds to humans with fatal results.
Experts fear the virus could become transmissible from person to person.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.


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