Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Doctor raises bird-flu questions
BY BRANDON STAHL - NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER - Posted on Thu, Apr. 27, 2006
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/14440274.htm
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/14440274.htm
Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, led an hourlong public discussion at the College of St. Scholastica on Wednesday about the tough questions society will face during a bird flu pandemic.
During the final presentation on bird flu at the school, Kahn said in his speech, titled "Avian Flu: Ethics of a Pandemic," that society will have to address who should live if a pandemic hits.
There is no vaccine to prevent bird flu, he said. If it were created before a pandemic hits, it would probably be in short supply and only a few people would be able to obtain it. Kahn said one big question would be if first reponders, old people or those most likely to survive should get the vaccine first.
"These are incredibly tough problems that we are not prepared to address," Kahn said.
Kahn said in an interview Tuesday that flu outbreaks have occurred often throughout history, but the last major outbreak happened in 1918 when up to 50 million people died, according to the World Health Organization. It's probable that the extended period of good luck will end, Kahn said.
"Why we've had such a quiet period isn't clear," he said. "But it has to be a foregone conclusion that flu will strike again."
So far, it appears that people can catch avian flu only from birds. More than 200 infections and 113 deaths have been reported worldwide, according to Linda VanEtta, an infectious disease physician at St. Luke's Hospital.
VanEtta, who opened the Wednesday night discussion, said that while there is no evidence that the avian flu virus has mutated to spread through human-to-human contact, the virus has spread through birds in 40 countries and is expected to hit North America this summer.
Despite that, she cited a recent poll showing that only 9 percent of Americans have prepared for flu.
Kahn said that's not nearly enough.
Civil liberties and individual rights, Kahn said, may also have to be drastically restricted in order to save the greatest number of people. For example, he said, if a vaccine were to be created, should people be required to receive it?
"That's coercive," he said. "We don't like being told you must do anything."
During the final presentation on bird flu at the school, Kahn said in his speech, titled "Avian Flu: Ethics of a Pandemic," that society will have to address who should live if a pandemic hits.
There is no vaccine to prevent bird flu, he said. If it were created before a pandemic hits, it would probably be in short supply and only a few people would be able to obtain it. Kahn said one big question would be if first reponders, old people or those most likely to survive should get the vaccine first.
"These are incredibly tough problems that we are not prepared to address," Kahn said.
Kahn said in an interview Tuesday that flu outbreaks have occurred often throughout history, but the last major outbreak happened in 1918 when up to 50 million people died, according to the World Health Organization. It's probable that the extended period of good luck will end, Kahn said.
"Why we've had such a quiet period isn't clear," he said. "But it has to be a foregone conclusion that flu will strike again."
So far, it appears that people can catch avian flu only from birds. More than 200 infections and 113 deaths have been reported worldwide, according to Linda VanEtta, an infectious disease physician at St. Luke's Hospital.
VanEtta, who opened the Wednesday night discussion, said that while there is no evidence that the avian flu virus has mutated to spread through human-to-human contact, the virus has spread through birds in 40 countries and is expected to hit North America this summer.
Despite that, she cited a recent poll showing that only 9 percent of Americans have prepared for flu.
Kahn said that's not nearly enough.
Civil liberties and individual rights, Kahn said, may also have to be drastically restricted in order to save the greatest number of people. For example, he said, if a vaccine were to be created, should people be required to receive it?
"That's coercive," he said. "We don't like being told you must do anything."