Government Leaders: Avian Flu Likely Within the Year
Agriculture leader teams with Interior, HHS to urge media to tell accurate story.
Mike Wilson
Published: Mar 20, 2006
Even if Chicken Little gets the flu, it doesn't mean the sky is actually falling.
That appears to be the message government leaders wanted to convey during a press conference on Monday, as they discussed the need for accurate reporting should the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HP AI), sometimes called H5N1, be discovered within U.S. borders.
"We're closely monitoring the rapid spread of the HP AI virus overseas and we now believe it is likely we will detect it in the United States, possibly some time this year," says USDA Secretary Mike Johanns. "But a detection of this virus among birds does not signal the start of a pandemic among humans. The fact is, a detection of HP AI in the United States would not constitute a reason for panic.
"The nation depends on (the media) to tell this story with the highest level of precision," he adds. "Clear and comprehensive reporting among the media is what stands between informing, and alarming, the public."
Johanns, along with Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt, outlined a readiness plan and system that significantly expands and unifies ongoing efforts among federal, state, regional and local wildlife agencies.
The increased efforts come as the spring migration of migratory birds is underway and the spread of avian influenza continues across continents.
Wildlife experts and health officials have monitored the spread of avian flu since it first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997. Since 1998, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has tested over 12,000 migratory birds in the Alaska flyway and since 2000, USDA has tested almost 4,000 migratory birds in the Atlantic flyway. All birds in these flyways have tested negative for the highly pathogenic virus of concern.
More intensify monitoring of migratory bird populations increases the likelihood of early detection - key to controlling the spread of the virus, particularly in domestic poultry, notes Johanns.
"Having said that, it's important for the public to know two things: a detection of Asian H5N1 in the United States would not signal the start of a human pandemic; and properly prepared poultry is safe to eat, because proper cooking kills this virus."
H5N1 is a disease of birds, not people. Most human cases in other countries have come from extensive direct contact with infected birds or their droppings.
Johanns expressed optimism that even if bird flu is detected here, the integrated nature of the U.S. domestic poultry industry would keep outbreaks to a minimum. As a result, he says there is no plan to order that all domestic poultry be brought indoors.
"We have a pretty good integrated system here," he says. "The majority of birds are covered or housed, nothing like what you see in other countries."
The government plan for rapid detection outlines five specific strategies:
- Investigation of disease-outbreak events in wild birds
- Expanded monitoring of live wild birds
- Monitoring of hunter-killed birds
- Use of sentinel animals, such as backyard poultry flocks
- Environmental sampling of water and bird feces
In 2006, USDA and its cooperators plan to collect between 75,000 to 100,000 samples from live and dead wild birds. They also plan to collect 50,000 samples of water or feces from high-risk waterfowl habitats across the United States.
"We can run up to 18,000 tests a day with 39 labs across the United States," says Johanns.
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