Bird Flu ‘Bad, Bad Virus’ — St. Jude Expert Says Outbreak ‘a Matter of Time’

By Mary Powers powers@commercialappealcom

The bird flu virus, declared a global threat by European ministers Tuesday, will likely be carried into the U.S. by migratory ducks this year or the next, an international flu authority warns.

“It is just a matter of time,” said Dr. Robert Webster, a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital faculty member who has devoted his career to studying the intersection of human and animal influenza viruses. That’s because those birds will mingle in Alaska with migratory birds from Asia, some of which now carry H5N1, the bird flu virus.

Webster warned Tuesday a global epidemic is inevitable. Such outbreaks occur when human flu strains undergo a reshuffling dramatic enough to confound the human disease-fighting immune system.

What he and others fear is that the next such pandemic will be triggered by the bird flu virus that has now spread from poultry and migratory birds in Asia into Russia, Turkey, Romania and a Greek Island. Since 1997, it’s infected more than 100 humans in four Asian countries and killed 60.

So far, most human cases involved individuals in close contact with diseased birds. Bird flu normally infects birds and pigs, not humans.

“But I am very, very concerned it will achieve the last few mutations that will allow it to spread from human to human,” Webster said. “This is the worst influenza virus I have ever encountered.”

Webster, who has studied flu viruses for decades, also directs the World Health Organization’s U.S. Collaborating Center, which focuses on the ecology of animal flu viruses.

Webster noted that unlike most flu viruses, this one kills the ducks that normally serve as its host. It also has killed tigers and cats that were fed chickens carrying the virus. And, while most flu viruses will give ferrets the sniffles, this virus spreads to their brains, causing paralysis and death.

“It is very scary. It is a bad, bad virus.”

As governments work to stockpile medications against the virus and international health experts discuss vaccine development strategies, Webster said individuals should prepare for a human outbreak as they would prepare for an earthquake or other natural disasters.

“Households need emergency rations,” including food and sanitary supplies to last up to a month, he said. “Simple hand washing will cut down on the transmission.”

A vaccine now being manufactured to protect against one version of H5N1 was developed at St. Jude. St. Jude scientists are also involved in tracking changes in the virus as well as testing new vaccines and drugs to fight it.

He said Americans should also be vaccinated against the three flu strains expected to circulate in North America this winter and kill about 36,000. The flu shot will reduce someone’s disease risk now and chances of sparking the next pandemic.

One pandemic scenario involves the bird flu virus picking up the genetic information it needs to spread easily in humans through the chance infection of someone who is also infected with a human flu virus.

Webster said getting a flu shot means “you have less chance to be the mixing vessel.

“All my staff have been vaccinated.”

– Mary Powers: 529-2383

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What to do now

Get a flu shot. Getting a vaccine now for the more common flu strains lessens the chance you will be the “mixing vessel” in which the bird flu combines with the human flu to create a strain that passes from human to human.

Wash your hands. As simple as it is, hand washing cuts down on the transmission of many viruses and bacteria.

Be prepared. Keep a 30-day supply of food and emergency supplies, just as you would prepare for an earthquake or other disaster.

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