The delayed response for medical help after Hurricane Katrina could be a mirror for the effects of a bird flu outbreak in the United States, officials at a medical conference in College Station said Wednesday.
"At the local level, the response [to a bird flu outbreak] is not going to be what it needs to be. While it will rise to the occasion eventually, it will require outside help, and it's going to take time for that help to get there," said Dr. Chris Farmer, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Farmer was one of several speakers Wednesday who addressed about 50 health-care professionals at a conference on preparing for the bird flu. The two-day meeting was sponsored by the Texas A&M Health Science Center Office of Homeland Security.
The hospital system in New Orleans was overwhelmed after Katrina flooded the area last summer. Just after the storm hit, patients had to be evacuated because Katrina left most hospitals inoperable. According to government auditors, New Orleans currently has 456 staffed hospital beds now, compared with 2,269 before Katrina.
The same thing could happen to a hospital system in a U.S. city hit by a bird flu outbreak, Farmer said.
"When you look at other hospitals across the country, [Katrina] was something that was on the six o'clock news," he said. "I just don't know how much these places have internalized [that] these things can happen where they are. It may not be a flood, but it may by avian flu. If your facility is overrun, what's the difference?"
Bird flu resurfaced in Asia in 2003 and has killed at least 108 people. It remains hard for humans to catch, but health experts fear it will mutate into a form easily spread among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.
While no cases have been reported in the United States, experts say it is only a matter of time before that happens.
The federal government says up to 90 million Americans would become sick with the virus, and 2 million would die during a worldwide flu pandemic.
P.K. Carlton, director of the Texas A&M Health Science Center Office of Homeland Security, said simple solutions, such as educating medical workers not to be afraid to treat patients or a new mask for employees, can help hospitals handle such an outbreak.
"I think our federal government is doing the things they need to do in terms of research, vaccination programs. But we're not as prepared as we can be, and that's what we're focusing on with this conference," Carlton said.
Bird flu is "not the boogeyman," he said. "We need to all understand it so that we're not frightened when the first case happens in the United States."
Col. Matthew Dolan, chief consultant for infectious diseases to the U.S. Air Force surgeon general, said response plans that were in place at different government levels when Katrina hit contributed to the slow response in offering medical and other help to victims.
"If developing separate plans was clearly recognized as wrong for Katrina, wouldn't we assume it would likewise not be the best answer for pandemic flu? I know there are people at the state and federal level struggling with how to put together the best answer. It's not something we should be paralyzed with fear in facing," he said.
When it comes to dealing with a potential bird flu outbreak, the situation is not hopeless, Farmer said.
"Our ultimate success will depend on the spirit of humanity to rise to the occasion and do what they need to do," he said. |
