National Strategy on Flu Pandemic

Representatives Lowey and Emanuel are circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter which is to be delivered to President Bush asking him to update Congress on the National Strategy on Pandemic Flu. On May 3rd,2006, President Bush released the federal Government's NSPI (National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Plan which will assist in the coordination of federal efforts to prepare for a "potential outbreak". The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that 258 people have already been killed by the Avian Flu with the most recent deaths recorded in Egypt.

On May 3rd, President Bush released the NSPI which includes over 300 strategies designed to prepare our nation for a potential influenza pandemic. Public health experts tell us that it is not a question of if, it is a question of when, the influenza pandemic will strike. This plan will incorporate these strategies being carried out by various federal agencies which will be held responsible for timelines and accountability. Since the release of the NSPI , 8 months ago, the federal government has made significant progress in executing a portion of the directives. Not all of the NSPI recommendations are listed on the federal pandemic influenza site and not all of this report has been made public.

In 2006 the World Health Organization held meetings to coordinate the human response to human cases of H5N1 avian influenza. To date, they are closely monitoring the situation and the lastest fatality occured in Egypt. The Egyptian Ministry of health and Population announced yet another new case of avian influenza when a 17 year old female from Fayyoum developed symptoms on 25th February 2007. To date, 20 cases have been confirmed in Egypt, 12 have been fatal.

Worldwide, the avian influenza has now reached England, Europe, the Near East, Africa, Nepal, the Americas and is virtually global. The influence virus is considered highly unstable and this new form of viral shift from birds to humans another form of influenza mutation. In the last century three pandemics have caused millions of deaths; 1918,1957 and 1968. The 1918 pandemic was the most severe and killed between 20-40 million people worldwide. The problem with this new strain of avian influenza is pandemics are unpredictable, vary highly in terms of mortality, severity and the patterns by which they are spread. Whilst the risk of avian influenza is relatively low in transmitting to humans the problem is that this virus could mutate.

Other measures put in place to stop the spread of avian influenza include a bird ban on imports, new rules for those travelling from infected countries and guidelines set out by the World Health Organization to assist countries who have not been infected or those who have bird flu. The avian influenza virus that emerged in Asia in 2003, continues to evolve, adapt and is spreading to other mammals including ducks and pigs which are within the human food chain thus, the probability of the virsus mutating further and being transmitted to humans can not to be rulesd out easily.

The "Dear Colleague" letter to President Bush can be signed or indeed questioned you can contact lauren.aronson@mail.house .gov. or you can go to www.who.org and look up the facts and figures for yourself.