TheFluMaster
Resident
Arizona to test its pandemic flu planning in case of outbreak
April 22, 2006, 09:00 AM MST
This summer, Arizona will test its pandemic flu planning in hopes of fixing weaknesses should a worldwide flu outbreak ever hit the state.
The "tabletop exercise" is planned for July 21 and will include state, county, city, hospital and health care workers.
Arizona planners are still working out details, including how and where the initial outbreak in the test will occur.
The drill will be the first for Arizona's public health community, which has been preparing since 2000 for the next flu pandemic.
Scientists, health care workers and public health experts met Friday in Phoenix to share ideas about ways to respond.
Many scientists have predicted a virulent flu outbreak in which most people have no immunity.
It could be sparked by the H5N1 avian flu infecting birds and poultry in countries around the world. The virus would have to mutate to become easily transmitted among people.
Roy Curtiss, director of Arizona State University's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, said he is trying to develop a pandemic flu vaccine using a weakened salmonella virus.
As envisioned, the vaccine could be taken orally rather than through an injection.
Any vaccine would undergo years of human clinical trials and would take a decade to win approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
The H5N1 strain, which has killed 113 people in nine countries, has split into two subtypes, said Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Health officials at Friday's conference agreed that when a pandemic begins, hospitals likely will be overwhelmed by flu patients who need to be isolated from other patients.
"The surge is going to be beyond what we can handle," said Dr. Bob England, acting director for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. "Surge capacity is what we're the most behind on."
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4803948&nav=HMO6
April 22, 2006, 09:00 AM MST
This summer, Arizona will test its pandemic flu planning in hopes of fixing weaknesses should a worldwide flu outbreak ever hit the state.
The "tabletop exercise" is planned for July 21 and will include state, county, city, hospital and health care workers.
Arizona planners are still working out details, including how and where the initial outbreak in the test will occur.
The drill will be the first for Arizona's public health community, which has been preparing since 2000 for the next flu pandemic.
Scientists, health care workers and public health experts met Friday in Phoenix to share ideas about ways to respond.
Many scientists have predicted a virulent flu outbreak in which most people have no immunity.
It could be sparked by the H5N1 avian flu infecting birds and poultry in countries around the world. The virus would have to mutate to become easily transmitted among people.
Roy Curtiss, director of Arizona State University's Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, said he is trying to develop a pandemic flu vaccine using a weakened salmonella virus.
As envisioned, the vaccine could be taken orally rather than through an injection.
Any vaccine would undergo years of human clinical trials and would take a decade to win approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
The H5N1 strain, which has killed 113 people in nine countries, has split into two subtypes, said Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Health officials at Friday's conference agreed that when a pandemic begins, hospitals likely will be overwhelmed by flu patients who need to be isolated from other patients.
"The surge is going to be beyond what we can handle," said Dr. Bob England, acting director for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. "Surge capacity is what we're the most behind on."
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4803948&nav=HMO6