U.N. announces anti-bird flu networks.

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (UPI) -- The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has announced a series of regional veterinary networks to better battle bird flu.

The virus continues to pose a serious threat after killing almost two dozen people and ravaging Asia's domestic poultry inndustry earlier this year,

"National borders cannot stop the disease from spreading," warned Joseph Domenech, chief of the FAO Animal Health Service said in Bagkok Friday. "Only regional cooperation is likely to achieve success."

The Southeast Asia network, covering Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam, was launched at a three-day regional meeting of veterinary officers and laboratory experts that ended in Bangkok Friday. Two similar networks for South and East Asia will follow soon.

FAO is providing $1.2 million for the creation of these sub-regional agencies, which will offer training and information exchange for national laboratories and surveillance teams from 23 Asian countries, bringing together affected and non-affected countries to better coordinate the control and prevention of bird flu.