11/03/05 How to fight the bird flu

With fatal strains of Avian bird flu migrating from Asia into parts of Europe this fall; the fear is that North America will be next to face a possible pandemic. Some scientists say it could be next spring as wild fowl migrate from Asia into parts of the U.S. and Canada. But the news of the spread of Avian bird flu has sent some Americans in a cautious mode at best, and a frenzy in some cases. Take for example, when word hit the streets that a drug, Tamiflu, was considered a potentially effective counter to bird flu symptoms, some pharmacies across the nation found themselves out of Tamiflu due to increased sales. It is with that backdrop that one finds the U.S. government taking no chances when it comes to when not if a potential Avian bird flu outbreak occurs. Let's start with basic measures ranging from increased education on how to handle fowl at live bird markets, to inspections at processing facilities. Those measures alone according to both Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Director Ron DeHaven and U.S.D.A.'s Dr. Richard Raymond make the chances of bird flu entering the country, let alone the local store and the food chain, basically nil. DEHAVEN: We have a cadre of specially trained veterinarians who as a standard will be at that farm, at that live bird market, or wherever we have an unusual report within four hours to conduct an initial examination and submit samples for testing. RAYMOND: Poultry products for public consumption are inspected for signs of disease both before and after slaughter. But now add on top of that, a second initiative recently introduced by President George W. Bush. The President rolled out the $7.1 billion dollar measure during a recent meeting of the National Institutes of Health. BUSH: This initiative will help us rapidly detect, quantify, and respond, to outbreaks of disease in humans and animals, and deliver information quickly to state and local and national and international public health officials by creating systems that provide continuous situational awareness, we're more likely to be able to stop, slow, or limit the spread of the pandemic and save American lives. Details of the measure include plans to stockpile enough vaccine and anti-viral drugs to protect twenty million Americans from bird flu, increase the speed in which research produces drugs to counter Avian influenza and protect drug manufactures from lawsuits that could hamper the ability to produce such drugs, increase emergency preparedness on the state and local levels, and institute both enhanced biosecurity on bird farms and greater controls of movements of birds.