United Nations experts are developing a bird flu warning system that maps migratory routes to help alert countries at risk of receiving infected species.
A pilot project of the warning system is expected to be operational in six months, and the final plan should be running in two years, said Marco Barbieri of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
Some details of the warning system were announced at an international wildlife conference in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
The system will help experts recommend that farmers move poultry away from key wetlands and offer hygiene advice, said Britain's Biodiversity Minister, Jim Knight.
Outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have devastated poultry flocks across Asia since 2003 and jumped to humans, killing at least 67 people. Scientists say migrating birds have spread the virus to other parts of the world.
Most people who have contracted bird flu have had contact with sick birds, but international health experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible between people and spark a global pandemic.
A man (35) has died in Indonesia of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, bringing to seven the number of deaths from bird flu.
