U.S. working up new birdflu plan, official says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health experts are putting
together a plan for dealing with a pandemic of avian influenza
should one break out, a Health and Human Services Department
official said on Wednesday.

The plan includes deciding who should be vaccinated and who
should get antiviral drugs first, said Dr. Benjamin Schwartz,
an HHS vaccine adviser.

“We know that an influenza pandemic will occur,” Schwartz
told a news conference organized by the National Foundation for
Infectious Diseases.

The H5N1 strain of avian flu first surfaced in poultry in
Hong Kong and China eight years ago and has killed more than 50
people in Asia, including in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia and
most recently Indonesia.

Health experts fear it could kill millions around the world
if it mutates into a form that could easily spread from person
to person.

HHS has stockpiled more than 2 million doses of Roche’s
Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, which has been shown
to help protect against bird flu and which can treat the
symptoms, Schwartz said.

The agency has plans to order up to 20 million doses.

He said a committee was meeting in Washington this week and
would give a plan to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt next week.

Shortcomings in U.S. preparedness include a lack of tests
to rapidly diagnose a person or an animal infected with the
flu, a ready vaccine supply and ways to rapidly make a new
vaccine.

Influenza viruses mutate quickly, so vaccines can only be
developed after a new strain emerges. This takes about six
months.

“In a pandemic, everyone will be susceptible and
vaccination recommendations will likely be universal,” Schwartz
said.

And right now, only two companies make vaccine in the
United States — Sanofi-Aventis and MedImmune. Chiron makes
vaccine for the U.S. market but its factory is in Britain.

“Because every country around the world will be affected,
we assume that only vaccine made in the United States will be
available here,” Schwartz said. British authorities are likely
to keep any vaccine made their for their own residents.

Experts will have to decide who gets vaccinated first.
Current guidelines point to the elderly, infants, pregnant
women and people with chronic illnesses.

“In a pandemic, we need to consider whether to vaccinate
police and firefighters, and utility workers,” Schwartz said.

The public health system also needs to be shored up, with
extra hospital beds, isolation units and staffers, Schwartz
said.