Henk Bekedam Quotations

China has many challenges. China has a large poultry population of 14 billion and 70 percent of that poultry is being kept in the backyard.

We hope China can share more information and samples of bird flu timely, regularly and globally.

Roughly half of the new infections are sexually transmitted. The other 48 percent comes from intravenous drug users, and the remaining 2 percent are vertical transmissions from mother to child.

On the other hand, I would like to stress...the current virus is not easily transmittable to humans. We don't expect a large number of cases.

It is hoped that the lessons of SARS have been taken to heart by the Chinese authorities, and that China's leadership in combating the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak will be an example to other countries affected at this time.

The real challenges are still at the grassroots level, and the capacity there remains very limited.

As long as there are poultry outbreaks, people will be exposed to the virus and we can expect that people might get infected.

We need to share information and samples in a timely manner, in a regular manner and also globally.

We expect there will be more poultry outbreaks,

Now we dare to say that the SARS epidemic is over its peak period both globally and in China, ... This shows SARS can be contained -- this, despite the fact that we still have no vaccine or cure or diagnostic test.