Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Plans to cage bird flu in effect
http://www2.townonline.com/braintree/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=577526
http://www2.townonline.com/braintree/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=577526
Avian influenza, or bird flu, has not infected local residents to date, but Braintree officials have prepared contingency plans, just in case.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> At the recommendation of Executive Health Officer Marybeth McGrath, the board of selectmen agreed 4-0 on Aug, 28 (Joseph Powers could not attend the meeting) to approve several annexations to the town's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Among them were an Emergency Dispensing Site Plan, which would be activated in response to a public health emergency, and a Local Infectious Disease and Emergency Planning and Response Plan, which would provide a coordinated response to address an infectious disease emergency,
According to Weymouth Health Director Richard Marino, officials would have to impose quarantines if avian flu reached pandemic levels in the state.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "There would have to be a shutdown of society to keep the disease from spreading," he said at a Sept. 14 "Are You Ready?" health forum at Abigail Adams Middle School. "We would have to isolate people while the disease is in its infectious stages."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> McGrath said to the Forum the next day, "At this point, that is too much of a hypothetical. Hopefully, that never occurs."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Marino told the Weymouth gathering that the shutdown might involve curtailing public transportation and closing schools for about a week.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "In such a case, we would work with our partners in emergency preparedness: the school department, the police department, and the fire department," McGrath said. "We would determine what would happen and how the town's operations would continue."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> During last week's Abigail Adams hearing, state Department of Health epidemiologist Ashley Barrat said that a worldwide outbreak of bird flu would cause an unusually high number of deaths because the virus spreads rapidly and people have no natural immunity to it.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "Pandemic flu can happen at any time of the year," she said. "Why are we worried about bird flu?"
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Barrat explained that Avian flu is unique because it resists anti-viral flu vaccines and is spread rapidly by migrating birds.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "Wild birds can carry the virus without getting sick," she said. "The infected birds can travel long distances and carry avian flu around the world."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Barrat said the virus is transmitted by migratory species to poultry birds, such as chickens.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "Most instances of transmissions to people have been when they have come in contact with chickens or poultry birds," she said. "There are some instances of transmissions by humans to each other, but those cases are very limited."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> The disease has killed approximately 143 people around the world to date, according to World Health Organization officials who only report laboratory confirmed cases.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Most of these deaths occurred in Asian nations where poultry products are eaten on a regular basis.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "The cause of death in Asia from Avian flu was primarily viral pneumonia," Barrat said. "We have two of the three prerequisites for Avian flu to become a pandemic outbreak across the world."
The two elements to trigger a worldwide outbreak of bird flu include having a novel virus or subtype virus that is transmitted by an animal to a human and transmission of the disease by an individual to another person.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Humans infected by Avian flu generally contract it by coming into contact with an infected bird's feces or droppings, Barrat said.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "The potential impact of a pandemic outbreak of Avian flu could involve two million clinically ill people in Massachusetts, of which 80,000 people might require hospitalization, and there would be 20,000 deaths," she said.
"If outbreaks of bird flu occur simultaneously across the United States, local communities will be on their own to care for local residents because other communities will have their own difficulties and not be able to provide medical support."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> At the recommendation of Executive Health Officer Marybeth McGrath, the board of selectmen agreed 4-0 on Aug, 28 (Joseph Powers could not attend the meeting) to approve several annexations to the town's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Among them were an Emergency Dispensing Site Plan, which would be activated in response to a public health emergency, and a Local Infectious Disease and Emergency Planning and Response Plan, which would provide a coordinated response to address an infectious disease emergency,
According to Weymouth Health Director Richard Marino, officials would have to impose quarantines if avian flu reached pandemic levels in the state.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "There would have to be a shutdown of society to keep the disease from spreading," he said at a Sept. 14 "Are You Ready?" health forum at Abigail Adams Middle School. "We would have to isolate people while the disease is in its infectious stages."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> McGrath said to the Forum the next day, "At this point, that is too much of a hypothetical. Hopefully, that never occurs."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Marino told the Weymouth gathering that the shutdown might involve curtailing public transportation and closing schools for about a week.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "In such a case, we would work with our partners in emergency preparedness: the school department, the police department, and the fire department," McGrath said. "We would determine what would happen and how the town's operations would continue."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> During last week's Abigail Adams hearing, state Department of Health epidemiologist Ashley Barrat said that a worldwide outbreak of bird flu would cause an unusually high number of deaths because the virus spreads rapidly and people have no natural immunity to it.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "Pandemic flu can happen at any time of the year," she said. "Why are we worried about bird flu?"
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Barrat explained that Avian flu is unique because it resists anti-viral flu vaccines and is spread rapidly by migrating birds.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "Wild birds can carry the virus without getting sick," she said. "The infected birds can travel long distances and carry avian flu around the world."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Barrat said the virus is transmitted by migratory species to poultry birds, such as chickens.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "Most instances of transmissions to people have been when they have come in contact with chickens or poultry birds," she said. "There are some instances of transmissions by humans to each other, but those cases are very limited."
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> The disease has killed approximately 143 people around the world to date, according to World Health Organization officials who only report laboratory confirmed cases.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Most of these deaths occurred in Asian nations where poultry products are eaten on a regular basis.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "The cause of death in Asia from Avian flu was primarily viral pneumonia," Barrat said. "We have two of the three prerequisites for Avian flu to become a pandemic outbreak across the world."
The two elements to trigger a worldwide outbreak of bird flu include having a novel virus or subtype virus that is transmitted by an animal to a human and transmission of the disease by an individual to another person.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> Humans infected by Avian flu generally contract it by coming into contact with an infected bird's feces or droppings, Barrat said.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td height="8"><spacer type="block" height="8" width="8"></td></tr></tbody></table> "The potential impact of a pandemic outbreak of Avian flu could involve two million clinically ill people in Massachusetts, of which 80,000 people might require hospitalization, and there would be 20,000 deaths," she said.
"If outbreaks of bird flu occur simultaneously across the United States, local communities will be on their own to care for local residents because other communities will have their own difficulties and not be able to provide medical support."