BANGKOK: (February 26 2004) Some 100 million birds have been culled to combat bird flu in 10 Asian nations, but tighter bio-security and control campaigns are needed to contain the virus, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

"The situation in some countries is still unclear and further epidemiological investigations are required to get the virus under control," the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement.

"New outbreaks of avian influenza are still occurring in some Asian countries stressing the need for continued control campaigns and tighter bio-security," it said.

The FAO said that of the 100 million birds that have died or been slaughtered to prevent the disease spreading, Thailand had disposed of 36 million, Vietnam 36 million, Indonesia 15 million, China 5.0 million and Pakistan 4.0 million.

It also said it had send experts to Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam to assess the situation on the ground and assist countries in their battle against bird flu.

"The findings of these missions will be instrumental to understand the origin of the epidemic and the factors that lead to such a wide and massive spread of the virus," it said.

The FAO urged affected nations not to drop their guard against bird flu, and to maintain surveillance and control strategies including elimination of all birds in infected areas.

Some Asian governments have been criticised for their slow response to the virus, which has killed 22 people in Thailand and Vietnam, and a reluctance to cull poultry around outbreak zones.

The FAO is hosting a three-day meeting of experts from 23 Asia Pacific nations in Bangkok from Thursday to discuss strategies to control bird flu and rehabilitate shattered agricultural industries.

Thailand planned to declare its crisis over at the end of this month, but was forced to backtrack when bird flu flared again in 18 locations last week. China confirmed one outbreak of bird flu in Yunnan province on Tuesday but there were no new suspected outbreaks for the eighth day running, raising hopes the virus was under control in China.

DAWN