President Bush today unveiled his plan to combat Bird Flu:
President Bush today unveiled a strategy to combat the threat of an avian flu pandemic, calling for $7.1 billion in emergency spending to stockpile reserves of medicines and to press ahead with the development of a new vaccine.
While no cases of the H5N1 avian flu virus have been detected in the United States, more than 60 people have died from the virus, all of them in Asia, and 140 million birds have been killed worldwide to try to stop its spread.
The virus has recently been found in birds in Europe, though there is no evidence that the flu has been spread from one person to another. Those who have contracted the virus have had direct contact with an infected bird, which could include poultry as well as wild birds, including ducks. Experts fear that if the virus mutates into a form that can be easily spread through human-to-human contact, the result could be a global outbreak, potentially including many deaths. Almost half of the approximately 120 people who have contracted the virus have died so far.
“There is no pandemic flu in our country, or in the world, at this time,” Mr. Bush said in a speech at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. “But if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare, and one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today.”The president’s strategy calls for building national reserves of antiviral medicines like Tamiflu and Relenza, which can help reduce the effects of the flu though they cannot prevent flu from occurring. The stockpile of antiviral drugs would be reserved for first responders, like police officers and health-care workers, as well as at-risk populations during the first stages of a pandemic, the president said. The Bush administration is seeking to have enough antiviral medication stockpiled for about 20 million people.
Is this expenditure too late or unecessary? Or maybe just in time?
The H5 avian influenza virus has been found in wild migratory birds in Canada, officials said, but it is unlikely the deadly H5N1 strain threatening Asia and Europe and there is no threat to human health.
The virus, whose subtype must still be determined, was detected in 28 ducks in the eastern province of Quebec and five in Manitoba in central Canada out of approximately 4,800 samples, said Jim Clark of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“These findings do not indicate that we are dealing with a virus strain capable of causing significant illness. The evidence we’ve observed strongly indicates that these healthy birds were not infected with the same virus that is currently present in Asia,” Clark said during a press conference.
The potential for a disaster is there, and I really hope that the appropriate steps are being taken to prepare for this sort of problem, but I also do not want hysteria in the media and in the general public.
And don’t forget to check out the flu wiki and Martin Roth’s bird flu site.
jg
My cats better stop bringing home birds or I’ll end up as patient 0 for the new flu pandemic.
p.lukasiak
how come we have to call it a pandemic? Isn’t epidemic scary enough?
metalgrid
I’m honestly wondering how much of that 7.1 bil will end up either lost or in crony pockets and how much meds and vaccine we’ll have to show for it. I really can’t decide whether I’d feel safer knowing there’s no government aid coming and having to go to a private hospital that can import the meds from elsewhere or rely on the government to actually come through in this crisis.
As long as the FDA doesn’t get their panties in a bunch if people start taking their health into their own hands and start importing flu vaccines and medications from Canada or Brazil or elsewhere, I guess I’ll be happy.
Faux News
My cats better stop bringing home birds or I’ll end up as patient 0 for the new flu pandemic.
If you’re the first lucky person to get the Bird Flu the CDC will refer to you as the “index case”, not patient zero. Of course they will be referring to you in the past tense.
Signed,
Boy Epidemiologist
jcricket
This was something I read on an unrelated issue (road improvements), but it’s very applicable here:
I’m glad Busu is doing something about the bird flu before it strikes at the national level. I think it might actually have a calming effect to know that preparations are being made, or cause people to think about the own community-level response issues. Even if the response isn’t perfect (which it won’t be), the cost for waiting is simply too high to calculate.
Enigma
Its unlikely that this will spread to the hypeboled situation they predict. More likely the disaster is pork spending by Congress & the President to prevent this instead of funneling the money to more worthy causes.
Oh, by the way, THE SKY IS FALLING!
Mike in SLO
How much of this is just scare tactics? I recall something called SARS a while back that was threatening to become pandemic as well, but silently faded into the night. Can you blame me for being skeptical about this? Can you blame me for feeling even if it a serious threat, that this Administrations response will be, shall we say, less than adequate? The track record of BushCo’s responses to 911, Iraq and Katrina make me very pessimistic. Does the lack of comments on this post suggest we are all a little wary of what we are hearing about this?
Andrei
I’m all for spending the money as this sort of disease and its potential impact is quite frightening. I’d rather be safe than sorry on this scenario.
However, as much I’d like to help all those of the Gulf Coast recover from Katrina, I’d have to say the $7.1 billion should not be added to the already out of control spending this administration has given us. the war is costing enough as it is. Take the $7.1 billion out of the propsed $60 billion or so appropriations for Katrina. We have to seriously get our government control on spending, and fast.
Liberals and the Democrats have been accused for ages as being the party of tax and spend. I’m not exactly sure how borrow and spend is significantly better in terms of real-world economic effects. And in fact, It would seem logical to say the borrow and spend GOP game plan is far more destructive than the tax and spend Dems.
Bob In Pacifica
Does this mean that the Republicans we stop cutting the budget for public health?
Didn’t think so.
Send in the army.
Stormy70
If you mean multi-million dollar studies proving that consuming more calories, and not exercising produces obesity, then no. Cut some more.
Vlad
“There is no pandemic flu in our country, or in the world, at this time,” Mr. Bush said in a speech at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. “But if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare, and one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today.”
Anybody else think for a second that he was getting ready to announce a pre-emptive war in East Asia?
jobiuspublius
140 millions dead birds?! When do we nuke the poles(not the Poles)?
ppGaz
epidemic = affecting many within a population or community
pandemic = covering a wide geographic area
Steve S
Notice how Bush’s solution to every problem is SPEND MORE MONEY.
He’s worse than the liberals.
jg
No. He’s a neo-con. He’s the same as the liberals.
Shygetz
I must have missed that study. Can you direct me to it?
SARS was nasty, and it was alleviated by a pretty good global response from WHO. Bird flu is worse. I guess I can’t blame you, but this isn’t just hype. The threat is real. It is currently just a threat, but it is a real threat. Would you rather wait until after the pandemic to begin to prepare?
…snarks the boy, just before he gets hit in the head by a rafter.
Vlad
“He’s the same as the liberals”
Not so much. When liberals spend money, they sometimes get positive results.
goonie bird
I have BIRD FLU and im growing feathers im developing a beak and wings i want to fly south i want to eat worms and bugs iii wwwannttt ttoo SQUARK SQUARK