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If a flu pandemic hit, is Maryland ready?
State prepares for potential threat
By Joseph Gidjunis
Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS -- Veterinary and health officials testified before legislators Tuesday that the United States is overdue for a pandemic flu outbreak, and the prime suspect expected to launch a nationwide medical crisis is the most severe avian flu virus, H5N1.
Officials acknowledge that the current risk for such an outbreak is low, but evidence from Asia and Europe -- which has killed hundreds of thousands of birds and more than 100 people -- proves the virus is adaptable and deadly. Avian flu was found in Worcester County birds in 2004, but this strain, similar to most avian flu strains, does not infect humans.
The next one could.
"Is this the one?" Guy Hohenhaus, a state veterinarian with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, asked rhetorically. "We would be foolish not to act like it could be. It may well go away on its own, but we can't base our strategy on hopeful thinking."
To combat the threat, surveillance programs across the country, including Maryland, have doubled in size and added personnel to testing and response. He boasted about Delmarva's efforts by the major producers to test every flock of birds no more than 10 days before slaughter. The previous testing rate was four of every 10 flocks. The two major labs conducting the tests are on Delmarva, Hohenhaus said.
While wild birds immigrating to the country from the north are one of three ways experts fear the virus could turn up in the country, there is some concern that illegally importing a sick bird or selling them in a live market could spread the disease.
But what representatives on the Joint Committee on Federal Relations really wanted to know was how Maryland would respond to an outbreak.
"If something happened tomorrow, what would we do?" said Delegate Nancy King, D-39-Montgomery.
Jean Taylor, an epidemiologist with Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said each state has an allotment of antiviral drugs available for purchase from the federal government, but as of now, demand for the drug would exceed supply. The government's goal is to have a stockpile of drugs for about 25 percent of the country's population by December 2008.
"I think the massive surveillance in wild waterfowl this year, in North America especially, it has not turned up any indication of any ... Asian lineage viruses," said G. Donald Ritter, director of Health Services for Mountaire Farms. "That's great information we didn't have last year."
Perdue Farms spokesperson Julie DeYoung said consumers do have a heightened awareness of avian flu, but its not necessarily bad.
"With more information, consumers will make the best decisions to help them," DeYoung said.
And as long as poultry is properly cooked, consumers are not at risk.
Avian flu consequences have been well-publicized, but the risks are not imminent. There is a possibility that it will never surface. If it does, its strength depends on the strain and how much it mutates.
"We're looking hard for flu. If we find it, we have detailed plans to eliminate it as quick as possible and go on about our business," Ritter said.
If a flu pandemic hit, is Maryland ready?
State prepares for potential threat
By Joseph Gidjunis
Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS -- Veterinary and health officials testified before legislators Tuesday that the United States is overdue for a pandemic flu outbreak, and the prime suspect expected to launch a nationwide medical crisis is the most severe avian flu virus, H5N1.
Officials acknowledge that the current risk for such an outbreak is low, but evidence from Asia and Europe -- which has killed hundreds of thousands of birds and more than 100 people -- proves the virus is adaptable and deadly. Avian flu was found in Worcester County birds in 2004, but this strain, similar to most avian flu strains, does not infect humans.
The next one could.
"Is this the one?" Guy Hohenhaus, a state veterinarian with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, asked rhetorically. "We would be foolish not to act like it could be. It may well go away on its own, but we can't base our strategy on hopeful thinking."
To combat the threat, surveillance programs across the country, including Maryland, have doubled in size and added personnel to testing and response. He boasted about Delmarva's efforts by the major producers to test every flock of birds no more than 10 days before slaughter. The previous testing rate was four of every 10 flocks. The two major labs conducting the tests are on Delmarva, Hohenhaus said.
While wild birds immigrating to the country from the north are one of three ways experts fear the virus could turn up in the country, there is some concern that illegally importing a sick bird or selling them in a live market could spread the disease.
But what representatives on the Joint Committee on Federal Relations really wanted to know was how Maryland would respond to an outbreak.
"If something happened tomorrow, what would we do?" said Delegate Nancy King, D-39-Montgomery.
Jean Taylor, an epidemiologist with Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said each state has an allotment of antiviral drugs available for purchase from the federal government, but as of now, demand for the drug would exceed supply. The government's goal is to have a stockpile of drugs for about 25 percent of the country's population by December 2008.
"I think the massive surveillance in wild waterfowl this year, in North America especially, it has not turned up any indication of any ... Asian lineage viruses," said G. Donald Ritter, director of Health Services for Mountaire Farms. "That's great information we didn't have last year."
Perdue Farms spokesperson Julie DeYoung said consumers do have a heightened awareness of avian flu, but its not necessarily bad.
"With more information, consumers will make the best decisions to help them," DeYoung said.
And as long as poultry is properly cooked, consumers are not at risk.
Avian flu consequences have been well-publicized, but the risks are not imminent. There is a possibility that it will never surface. If it does, its strength depends on the strain and how much it mutates.
"We're looking hard for flu. If we find it, we have detailed plans to eliminate it as quick as possible and go on about our business," Ritter said.
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