Staying ahead of the avian flu
Monday, March 7, 2005
Printable FormatCHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorial
So far the avian flu threat has been a world away, a casual curiosity for most Americans who haven't traveled to Thailand or Vietnam or Cambodia. Chickens and ducks are dying. So are some people who handle those sick birds in Southeast Asia or their uncooked meat. It's a terrifying flu: Nearly three out of every four humans who get sick have died. Fortunately, the avian flu still doesn't pass easily from person to person. That could change, though, as the flu virus mutates.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) understands how dangerous that would be and just how small the world has become. Last week he proposed adding $25 million to the Foreign Assistance Act to combat the threat. "In this age when you can get on a plane in Bangkok and arrive in Chicago in hours," said Obama, "we must face the reality that this threat is not a problem isolated half a world away, but one that could affect us here in Illinois and all across America."
The avian flu has the potential to produce the kind of deadly pandemic not seen in the world since the great influenza outbreak of 1918, which killed 675,000 Americans and upwards of 50 million worldwide. Because the avian flu virus is a new strain, most humans have no natural immunity to it. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes the threat and is preparing to test the first doses of an experimental vaccine. The government is also stockpiling antiviral drugs and ramping up surveillance of the disease.
But it isn't enough for the U.S. to spend money here to prevent spread of the bird flu. If this virus does mutate and begins to spread rapidly among humans, the flash point will be in Southeast Asia; it won't be here. Most countries in that region are relatively poor and have little disease-fighting infrastructure in place. Their diagnostic abilities are weak and the resources they would have available to control and treat a widespread human outbreak would be limited at best.
Obama's amendment also calls for establishing a high-level, inter-agency task force to devise a strategy and coordinate a U.S. government response to the avian flu threat. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week approved Obama's proposal as part of the $20 billion Foreign Assistance Act. We urge swift passage by Congress.
Obama expects that the $25 million could be spent to provide health-care assistance through the World Health Organization or to enhance monitoring where the disease is prevalent. That $25 million is modest, but could prove priceless if it helps to contain a deadly pandemic. Obama is to be commended for recognizing that the U.S. and the world have to stay a step ahead of the avian flu.