WHO along with the partnership of World Organization for Animal Health and Food and Agriculture Organization has decided to step up the surveillance of H5N1 virus after a human case was reported in the US earlier this month.

A World Health Organization official on Thursday called for stronger surveillance in animals for evidence of infection with H5N1 bird flu in order to curb its spread. The official also urged stronger efforts to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus to new species of animals and to humans.

The developing avian influenza panzootic and the growing possibility of a pandemic bring to the fore the existential questions for humanity of climate change and the destruction of public health, both of which must be stopped in order to control the growing threats.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first human case of avian influenza A(H5N1) in a child in California last week.

California's public health department had reported the case on Tuesday, but said there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus. The CDC affirmed that currently there was no evidence of person-to-person spread of H5N1 bird flu from this child to others,

A World Health Organization official on Thursday called for stronger surveillance in animals for H5N1 bird flu in order to curb its spread. "What we really need globally, in the U.S. and abroad, is much stronger surveillance in animals,

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness, is calling for increased surveillance globally of animal populations that are known to be susceptible to H5N1, including wild birds,