AUSTRALIA has been warned to boost its preparedness for a bird flu outbreak by identifying new strains of the virus as they develop overseas.

Professor Mark von Itzstein, who helped develop the world’s first anti-flu drug Relenza, today also said it was not a matter of “if'’ but of “when'’ Australia would be at the centre of an influenza pandemic.

He said while the nation was “very well placed'’ in its preparedness plan, it could do better.

“It’s quite clear that one of the things that needs to be done is an improvement in surveillance and profiling of influenza virus that emerge every season,'’ Prof von Itzstein said.

“We know that, for example, bird flus emerge every year out of the Asian region, and that’s most likely where the threat will come from.

“Currently what happens in terms of that surveillance is that samples are collected as you could imagine, but they rarely go further than that.

“We do need to do better than that.'’

Prof von Itzstein, the executive director of Griffith University’s Glycomics Institute, said Australia was vulnerable to outbreaks given its proximity to bird flu hot spots such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, where new strains of influenza viruses were continuing to emerge.

“Because of our location we are particularly vulnerable to influenza outbreaks, especially from strains that are resistant to existing drugs and to the new emerging strains or mutants of the H5NI avian influenza virus,'’ he said.

He said that the risk of human-to-human transmission was extremely real.

The Glycomics Institute is working closely with similar organisations in Cambodia and Hong Kong to identify new strains as part of a rapid response program.

“That in my view … will add an enormous amount of information to the emerging viruses and how vulnerable the world will be to these viruses as they come along,'’ Prof von Itzstein said.

“We have already developed compounds to test on emerging influenza strains in Asia, because we need an alternative drug to combat those viruses which have become immune to Tamiflu, which is used around the world to fight influenza.'’

Prof von Itzstein will present a public lecture on the issue at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus on November 1.

By Roberta Mancuso