The European Union has been preparing itself for a possible pandemic, but the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) says there is at least another two years of work to effectively counter an outbreak of bird flu.

The latest ECDC technical report, released last week, shows European governments need to work together to ensure consistency of planning at all levels. The EU also needs to devote more resources to influenza research and strengthen its response to smaller seasonal threats.

ECDC director Zsuzsanna Jakab has praised EU members for their work to date but says the most important contributions are still to be made.

“Since 2005, health authorities across the EU have put major efforts into improving their preparedness against a pandemic. The challenge now is for governments and EU bodies to sustain the momentum for a further two or three years, to do the work identified in this report.”

Adequate preparation means hospitals would be able to treat infected people without risk to staff or other patients, essential services such as power and water would be unaffected and vaccines would be available within six months of an outbreak.

The ECDC report is based on the work of all 25 EU members as well as Norway and Iceland. The centre will continue examining preparations by all countries before reporting again later this year.