Is the US ready for bird flu? No

According to the report, not enough has been done to properly prepare the country for the possibility of a pandemic. The report says while the US has helped many countries watch and prepare for a bird flu pandemic, it still lacks the rapid tests and hospital capacity to cope with one at home.

The report comes one year after a pandemic influenza plan was released and says although agencies had completed many of the hundreds of tasks assigned, many of the most difficult tasks remain incomplete.

These include the ability to quickly detect the spread of disease and to make vaccines quickly and in large-enough amounts, and detailed plans on who gets drugs and vaccines if a pandemic hits.

Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, assistant to President George W. Bush for bio-defence says the US has limited surveillance capability and hospitals are already overwhelmed with day-to-day patients.

Dr. Venkayya says in the event of a bird flu pandemic, treating the sick in a hospital environment would be virtually impossible, as there will not be sufficient health or medical capacity to take care of the large number of individuals that would present.

On a more positive note, the report notes that a billion dollars has been allocated to upgrade the ability of the country to mass produce vaccines in order to ensure that the highest number of people possible can be protected.

US antiviral drug production capacity is now up to 80 million regimens per year.

The report says at home the US government has supported the training of more than 129,000 animal health workers and 17,000 human health workers in H5N1 surveillance and outbreak response.

Overseas in Cambodia and Laos, the time between onset of outbreaks and reporting has shortened from up to five weeks to 48 hours, which improves the chance of an effective outbreak response and containment.

The US is also about to reach an agreement with Canada and Mexico that would arrange for the three nations to jointly watch for the virus and, if necessary, respond to it.

The flu plan called for the federal government to do whatever is possible to get ready, while noting that most of the response to any outbreak of disease will be the responsibility of individuals, states and local authorities.

Though a pandemic of some sort appears to be inevitable no one can predict when, or what disease, although the H5N1 virus seems the most likely candidate.

The H5N1 virus has already infected birds in 50 countries and has devastated flocks from China to Africa and parts of Europe, but has not yet crossed to the Americas.

US authorities have tested 84,000 wild birds on both coasts for signs of H5N1, and the virus had not been found.

Bird flu has killed 192 out of the 318 people infected since 2003 and should the virus mutate into a strain capable of transferring between humans the result could be a pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

The flu plan, published on the Internet at http://pandemicflu.gov