Since first emerging in 1997 in Hong Kong, the bird flu has spread across poultry flocks in nine East Asian countries.

FORBES: A Killer Virus Spreads

In some places, at least, ruthless monitoring of poultry flocks has reduced both the avian disease and the (already rare) cases of people becoming infected.

ECONOMIST: Bird flu and public health

The countries represented at the summit pledged a co-ordinated fight against the disease and issued a declaration that mass culling of infected poultry flocks was the best way to control its spread.

ECONOMIST: Averting a global plague | The