SANTIAGO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chilean doctor and senator GuidoGiraldi called on Chile's government on Tuesday to create a bio-security strategy to tackle a possible outbreak of bird flu.

    Giraldi urged the government to set up a factory producing the Oseltamivir anti-bird flu vaccine, warning that the virus had a 55 percent death rate.

    Giraldi said that only Swiss producer Roche was making the vaccine at the moment -- selling it under the name Tamiflu -- and that if an outbreak occurs, the anti-bird flu vaccine would be quickly used up and Chile would find it hard to get an alternative.

    The World Health Organization has said that 98 people have diedof bird flu across the world, out of a total of 177 infected.

    WHO has sent out an alert "which means the world is in imminent risk of a pandemic that will spread from person to person, with a very high death rate," Giraldi said.

    There is a chance that within 2.5 to 10 years, the virus will mutate into a form that spreads from human to human, breaking free of its habit: spreading from bird to bird or bird to human, Giraldi said.

    Last week, the new government of Michelle Bachelet announced a plan to vaccinate all poultry farm workers and those most vulnerable to bird flu. Enditem