EU not yet ready for possible pandemic

STOCKHOLM, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A report on Europe's readiness for a pandemic will show progress has been made but more work is needed, a top European Commission official said on Wednesday.

The report, following visits to about 30 countries by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), will be released imminently, said Robert Madelin, director-general for health and consumer protection at the European Commission.

"We are perhaps the best-prepared continent in the world but we are not prepared enough. So we are making progress but we need to do more," Madelin told reporters following a tour of the ECDC's crisis management centre, set up to help member countries work together in the event of a major health risk.

"The detail will come out when the ECDC has finalised the report that is now with the European Commission," he said.

The overall finding is similar to that in a preliminary report in February. The report is part of a five-year plan to ensure Europe is ready to deal with a major cross-border health crisis.

Madelin said two challenges facing European officials were ensuring preparedness at a local level and helping to manage the economic impact of a major health disruption.

Madelin was in no doubt a pandemic would eventually occur. "We have seen influenza pandemics from time to time. It's not a precise cycle, it doesn't work like railway trains, but it will come," he said.

"If it's not 'flu it will be something else. If it's 'flu it may be derived from H5N1 avian influenza or from some other virus."

The ECDC was set up in 2005. Madelin said it came about because of the experiences of European officials from the SARS crisis in Asia. (Reporting by Adam Cox; Editing by Robert Woodward)