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Local Health Experts Happy to See Bush Focusing on Flu

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 November 2005, 21:01 CST

By Rachel A. Sobel Medill News Service

Area scientists and medical experts Tuesday praised President Bush's call for vaccines to protect Americans from bird flu as a possible temporary measure to ward off a widespread pandemic.

In a speech Tuesday at the National Institutes of Health, President Bush asked Congress for $1.2 billion to purchase enough doses of vaccine based on the current strain of the avian flu virus to vaccinate 20 million people. The vaccine would not be a perfect match to the pandemic flu, but some specialists say that is not a problem.

"In a pandemic, it may not be that exact strain, but it still offers some protection," said Karen McMahon, chief of immunization section at the Illinois Department of Health. "Some may be better than none."

McMahon was just one of the local flu experts reacting to the president's strategy for readying the country against a potential pandemic influenza outbreak. Others lauded Bush's plan but said his timing may be too late.

"Nothing has changed with the bird flu in the last year," said Dr. Robert Lamb, professor of molecular and cellular biology at Northwestern University. "We have had a whole year to get to this conclusion. Until today, Mr. Bush simply wasn't doing enough."

Lamb said because there is limited production and a high degree of difficulty making vaccines and antiviral drugs, Americans are not going to get enough protection.

Bush himself noted that one of the key challenges for scientists is that it is impossible to create a vaccine until after the pandemic strain actually shows up. Avian flu has infected domesticated birds like ducks and chickens and long range migratory birds, but has yet to be transferred from human to human.

Dr. Stephanie Black, an infectious disease expert at Rush Hospital, said it is important not to spread panic, but Bush's statement was necessary.

Black noted that the city has already held disaster drills involving some of Chicago's 55 clinics and was trying to develop plans to permit vaccinations of all Chicagoans in the event of a avian flu outbreak.

In addition to new vaccines, the government is stockpiling antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu and Relenza, to decrease the severity of the illness if taken within 48 hours of getting sick.

GRAPHIC: Local focus: Avian flu

Chicago-area county officials have their eyes on the westward spread of the H5N1 strain of avian flu, but aren't in crisis mode yet. Here's what county health departments say they are doing to prepare:

Cook County

Putting together a pandemic flu plan

Tracking flu and flu-like symptoms countywide through data reported from a representative sample of eight hospitals, nine primary care sites and four schools

Connecting electronically the 21 hospitals in the Cook County Department of Public Health's jurisdiction

Working to identify sites for dispensing antibiotics and vaccines. Currently, there are 80 such sites

Working on quarantine and isolation laws to guarantee the county has the authority to call a quarantine if necessary

DuPage County

Flu pandemic response being coordinated through the county's office of emergency management

Kane County

Working with local hospitals and doctors to maximize surveillance of potential new diseases

Including avian flu in an "all hazards" approach to public health

Lake County

Putting together pandemic plan, a plan that includes avian flu or any possible pandemic

Waiting for critical national and state direction before completing the pandemic plan

McHenry County

Including avian flu in an "all hazards" approach to public health

Illinois

Has a pandemic flu plan, which would include an avian flu pandemic

Plan is constructed by the state departments of public health, emergency management and agriculture

The emergency management agency currently is revising the plan

Draft of plan is available on the Web at www.idph.state.il.us/ flu/pandemicfs.htm

Source: County health departments; Illinois Department of Public Health

Source: Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.

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