Pennsylvania - Planning for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

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Pitt Planning for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

PITTSBURGH--Administrators from a wide spectrum of Pitt operations have initiated a process to prepare for a possible avian flu pandemic.

Although avian flu has not mutated to a form that can be transmitted from human to human, the potential for that development led to the creation of the Pandemic Preparedness Workgroup, composed of Pitt administrators and medical personnel. The workgroup was created by Executive Vice Chancellor Jerome Cochran, whom Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg has designated as Pitt's "Emergency Executive."

"Even without an immediate threat," Cochran said, "it's prudent to have a well-thought-out plan to enhance the safety of students, faculty, and staff and maintain the orderly operations of the University."

Since the workgroup's first meeting on April 6, subcommittees have been devising detailed plans covering student life, academic affairs, administration, and research continuity. Similar planning is occurring at many other institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, municipal and regional governmental bodies, and emergency planning agencies.

"Since our Pittsburgh campus sits in the middle of a large city, our plans must be coordinated with the region around us," said Jay Frerotte, the University's director of Environmental Health and Safety and chair of the workgroup. "But as an institution of more than 46,000 people, 6,300 of whom live on campus, we are alert to concerns particular to us."

The planning process also will include concerns specific to Pitt's off-campus facilities and its four regional campuses.

Because human-to-human avian flu doesn't now exist, medical experts are left to conjecture about the severity and pattern of contagion. For that same reason, the effectiveness of any vaccine prepared in advance can't be determined, because the nature and virulence of the virus that mutates from the current birds-to-human virus to the feared human-to-human virus will not be known until it appears. Typically, it takes six months for a vaccine to be readied once the virus is evident.

These unknowns have led the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services to suggest that institutions develop "triggers" for certain levels of action. For instance, if human-to-human transmission of avian flu should appear anywhere in this country, what action should Pitt take? If such flu appears in the state of Pennsylvania, then what action should be taken?

Pitt's workgroup is working through these issues and the myriad implications that accompany them.

Information about the avian flu and the latest information about Pitt's activities and the community's activities in light of it can be found at www.pitt.edu/avianflu/. This site will continue to be updated and will be the primary source of avian flu information at Pitt.

To provide a high level of communication with the entire Pitt community, the workgroup also will use Pitt publications, telephone hotlines, and media alerts, if necessary.

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Re: Pitt Planning for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

Re: Pitt Planning for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

Overview

Avian flu, also known as ?bird flu,? is caused by influenza viruses that occur naturally among wild birds. Normally, wild birds across the globe are carriers of a harmless form of these viruses, which don?t sicken them. But recently, a new strain of the virus, H5N1 (named for the proteins on the surface of the virus), has killed birds of more than 80 wild species and flocks of domestic fowl, in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Human fatality rate high

Some human cases, primarily in Asia, have developed from contact with these birds, or their saliva or feces. More than half of the human victims have died after suffering fever, cough, muscle aches, and pneumonia. The disease has not appeared in the United States in either humans or birds.
At this time, avian flu is not easily transmitted from human to human, although experts are considering whether prolonged and intimate contact with a sick person may indeed make a caregiver vulnerable, since family clusters have been found in Indonesia. Still, human cases are rare and have been confirmed only in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.
Danger of a pandemic

But because viruses often mutate, it is feared that H5N1 may some day turn into one that will quickly spread from human to human, perhaps around the globe. Such a pandemic is expected to be widespread and deadly.
Medical researchers are working on preparing a vaccine, but because the exact nature and virulence of the virus that may mutate into the human-to-human form isn?t known, the effectiveness of a vaccine prepared in advance isn?t known either. Typically, it takes six months to develop a vaccine, once the pathogen is known.
Preparations underway

Many international agencies, as well as the federal government, local and state governments, businesses, schools, and hospitals are readying plans to deal with the possibility of an avian flu pandemic. The University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are making plans as well. These plans primarily deal with how to efficiently treat the sick and limit exposure to the well.
In this country at this time, the only precautions to take are to observe wildlife from a distance and avoid touching wildlife. If contact occurs, wash hands with soap and water before you rub your eyes, eat, drink, or smoke.
Travel precautions

Although there are no international travel restrictions as a result of avian flu, public health officials urge travelers to higher-risk areas of the world to avoid contact with live animal markets and poultry farms, and any free-ranging or caged poultry. In addition, visitors to affected areas should not consume under-cooked poultry and egg products.
Upon their return, travelers should monitor their health for 10 days. If illness is present (including fever plus cough, sore throat, or trouble breathing) during the 10-day period, a doctor should be consulted and informed of symptoms, location of travel, and whether there was direct contact with poultry or close contact with a severely ill person.
Seasonal flu warnings

While health officials are watching the course of avian flu and making plans to deal with it, even though it may not happen, they are also preparing for the yearly occurrence of seasonal flu, usually between December and May.
Seasonal flu can also cause serious illness and death in the young, the elderly, or those with impaired resistance. But, in contrast to avian flu, vaccines do exist, and are offered at campus sites.
Seasonal flu is transmitted by coughing and sneezing or other close contact, or from contact with an object contaminated by flu viruses, which can live on surfaces for as long as two hours. Health officials are advising that everyone get a flu shot this year and be meticulous about hand-washing.



http://www.pitt.edu/avianflu/overview.html

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Pitt Planning for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

Pitt Planning for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic

PREPPING FOR A FLU PANDEMIC
By Ashley Adams (contact at aadams@eveningsun.com) The Evening Sun

Evening Sun Reporter In southcentral Pennsylvania, it's not so much a question of if avian influenza will appear. It's a question of when, experts said at a panel discussion on the topic held Tuesday in York.

The York & Adams Counties Pandemic Influenza Summit, held at the Holiday Inn Holidome off Loucks Road, was meant as a starting point for discussions on how to better prepare for widespread influenza outbreaks ? discussions officials hope lead to increased preparedness.

About 250 emergency responders, medical professionals and representatives from hospitals, nursing homes, schools, local governments and businesses were among those on-hand at the summit.

"We want to inform people about pandemic influenza and what government, health care and other agencies and organizations are doing and should be doing for a possible pandemic," said Dr. David Hawk, director of the Bureau of Health in York who served as program facilitator at the summit.

A pandemic ? the emergence of a new virus that proves contagious and deadly ? would have sweeping effects that would strain emergency resources and could overwhelm hospitals.

Dr. Charles Chodroff, senior vice president of WellSpan Health, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate a bird flu pandemic would make 90 million people sick worldwide, cause 10 million to seek hospital care and result in 2 million deaths.

In York and Adams counties, which have a population of about 450,000 people, such an outbreak would infect about 150,000 of them, Chodroff said.

Five hundred to 1,000 would die. And about 2,400 to 10,000 people would be hospitalized in a three- to four-month period, he said. Ordinarily, the three hospitals in York County admit about 30,000 to 34,000 people a year.

A CDC modeling program predicted this area would have just enough resources ? if it canceled elective surgeries, Chodroff said ? adding that the prediction is just an estimate.

"But our real worry is the fear," Chodroff said. "Trust will start to break down. We hope society can keep a sense of trust in the event of an outbreak."

The federal government and international health officials in recent years have watched H5N1 ? an infection found in birds that also has infected at least 228 people since 2003.

About half of the people infected have died. The United States has not had human cases of avian influenza. Other bird viruses ? including bird flu strains that differ from the avian flu ? have turned up in Pennsylvania poultry, said Dr. John Roberts, a veterinarian with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, who took part in the panel discussion. But generally, Roberts explained, these viruses do not cause illness in humans.

Michael Huff, director of the state Health Department's Bureau of Community Health Systems, said H5N1 must mutate or alter itself to infect humans, meaning the virus wouldn't necessarily cause a pandemic if it turned up in the United States. But preparing for the worst was what the summit was all about.

And officials say it might only be a matter of time before the virus jumps from birds to humans and spreads. The point wasn't lost on Michael Hampton, Emergency Management Agency manager for West Manheim Township. Hampton attended the summit to get a better idea of how avian flu is transmitted, and how it can be prevented.

"There was a lot of good information," he said. "For me, it was informative and got me thinking how will this affect our municipality and how can I prepare for it?" Once it's here, you're stuck with it, he said. "You can't drive away from this like an incident at Three-Mile Island or a hurricane like Katrina," he said.

Source: www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_4189908