WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The total fund for a global fight against bird flu is estimated to range between 1.2 to 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, the World Bank said in a report on Friday.

    Most of the fund is likely to be put into the densely-populated east Asia and the Pacific region, the remainder will mostly go to Europe, Central Asia and Africa, the bank said.

    Chances are low for the avian flu to spread to Latin America, it added, saying that in case of any spread, it would most likely to originate from North America.

    The World bank is tasked to calculate the cost for fighting the bird flu and present a report to an international donors' bird flu conference to be held in Beijing on Jan. 17-18.

    After consulting with the World Health Organization and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, the Word Bank estimated that a bird flu pandemic that lasts a year could cost the global economy as much as 800 billion dollars.

    To combat the pandemic across the world, some 75 million dollars will be needed for animal health support, and another 157.6 million dollars to strengthen health systems, including 56 million dollars for regional and global stockpiles of antiviral drugs, the bank said.

    On Jan. 2, the World Bank's board of member countries approved a 500-million-dollar credit line for countries that need help to tackle bird flu, and Kyrgyzstan would be the first recipient of the fund. Enditem