| If Avian flu reaches the United States, U.S. officials say | | | | we're fortunate in California to have a lot of the building |
| local communities will be the first responders to the | | | | blocks in place. We have a strong lab system. We |
| crisis. In Los Angeles, California health authorities are | | | | have a robust surveillance system. We have some of |
| getting ready for a pandemic that may or may not | | | | the leading scientists in the nation here in the state. |
| occur. | | | | There is more to do," she said. |
| The disease, caused by a virus known as H5N1, has | | | | Some of those tasks were revealed at a recent public |
| been mostly restricted to poultry in Asia and Europe. It | | | | hearing. A state audit found that California's medical |
| has sickened at least 125 people in Asia, however, | | | | disaster plan is more than 10 years old. A plan to |
| resulting in the deaths of at least 64 of them. All have | | | | coordinate local agencies in a public health crisis has |
| gotten the disease after coming into contact with sick | | | | not been revised for more than 30 years. Among the |
| birds. Scientists warn, however, the virus that causes | | | | problems found by auditors: The state's disaster |
| this strain of Avian flu could mutate, allowing it to | | | | planning calls for use of a National Guard medical |
| spread more easily to humans. | | | | brigade that has been disbanded. |
| Scott Layne, associate professor of epidemiology at | | | | Los Angeles public health director Jonathan Fielding |
| the UCLA school of public health, says some form of | | | | says his agency is monitoring ill patients to see if a |
| Avian flu will probably reach the United States. | | | | human strain of the Avian flu has arrived here. |
| "I think a form of avian flu that can spread in animals, it | | | | Hospitals are preparing for a possible surge in patients |
| is very likely that it's going to reach the United States. | | | | because of a flu pandemic, which Dr. Fielding says |
| Question number two is, will a form of avian flu reach | | | | could overburden the system. |
| the United States that will spread in human beings or | | | | "The issue will be trying to control its impact, and I think |
| be an efficient transmitter between human beings? | | | | we have to work very diligently to make sure that the |
| And the honest answer to that is, we don't know," he | | | | impact is minimized," he said. |
| said. | | | | Pharmaceutical companies are now working on a |
| He says we have to do everything possible to | | | | vaccine that would target Avian flu, and local health |
| prepare, just in case. | | | | agencies are stockpiling anti-viral medicines in case of |
| Health officials says millions around the world could die | | | | an outbreak. California health official Sandra Shewry |
| in an Avian flu pandemic. In a worst-case scenario, it | | | | says the possibility of a pandemic raises questions, |
| could claim tens of millions of lives. | | | | however. |
| President Bush has allocated $7.1 billion to deal with a | | | | "How to get vaccines out to people, what to do with |
| possible outbreak. Preparations in California involve | | | | mass casualties, what if our health care delivery |
| coordinating local agencies for large-scale testing of | | | | system is overwhelmed," she said. |
| patients suspected of having the illness. If a flu | | | | And what would happen, officials ask, if many doctors |
| pandemic occurs, officials may have to quarantine | | | | and nurses became sick themselves? |
| those who are infected. | | | | Public health authorities say other forms of influenza |
| Sandra Shewry, director of the California Department | | | | claim the lives of more than 30,000 Americans in a |
| of Health Services, says the state has spent the past | | | | typical flu season, and simple precautions such as |
| few years building up its public health system, and she | | | | frequent washing of hands can limit the spread of the |
| says it is ready for the challenge. | | | | flu. But they say a comprehensive response will be |
| "This is an unprecedented threat in public health, and | | | | needed for a possible pandemic of Avian flu. |