Answers from the NIH: Is the bird flu threat over?
February 26, 2007 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
NOT SO! – says the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). In fact, we’re not prepared to deal with a global threat.
Steve Curwood from Living on Earth asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to give updates on the bird flu war. According to Dr. Fauci, the threat of a pandemic has remained the same since last year, because bird flu is still mushrooming in many countries.
And as long as there are chickens that are infected and sick and dying there’s always the possibility of it, as we say jumping species from the chicken or the turkey to the human. That has not occurred in the UK but in other parts of the world like Southeast Asia there have been a steady trickling in of cases.
As to protecting the US public with a bird flu vaccine? Ahh… we don’t have enough of it and the dose required to get immunity is too high and offers protection in only half the populace.
And Tamiflu? It is most effective when taken during the first 24-48 hours but, Fauci warns, “We have no idea how well Tamiflu will perform if given to people who are desperately ill with a pandemic flu.”
Gosh… can you take one more bad news?
CURWOOD: How worried are you now about an avian flu pandemic among humans?
FAUCI: Well, I think that pandemic is going to occur sometime in the future. We’ve had three of them of varying degrees of severity in the 20th century. It is highly likely that within a reasonable time in the 21st century we’ll have one. Whether that’s going to be the currently circling H5N1 we have no idea. We do know that pandemics do occur. So if there’s anything positive going on right now I think it’s focusing our attention, and a wake up call, that a pandemic is a possibility. It may not occur with this virus. It may not occur this year, next year, or the year after, but eventually we need to be prepared for a pandemic flu. You need to prepare for the worst.
*me gasps* My job’s not over yet. As long as a pandemic threat remain, Flu Patrol will be here to help us prepare for the worst.
Tags: flu, bird flu, influenza, virus, vaccine, illness, viral diseases, health, medicine, Anthony Fauce, NIH, NIAID
