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Prevention and treatment
Although avian influenza in humans can be detected with standard influenza tests, these tests have not always proved reliable. In March 2005, the World Health Organization announced that seven Vietnamese who initially tested negative for bird flu were later found to have carried the virus. All seven have since recovered from the disease. Currently (6/05) the most reliable test (microneutralization) requires use of the live virus to interact with antibodies from the patient's blood; because live virus is required, for safety reasons the test can only be done in a level 3 laboratory.
Antiviral drugs are sometimes effective in both preventing and treating the disease, but no virus has ever been really cured in medical history. Vaccines, however, take at least four months to produce and must be prepared for each subtype.
Further, as a result of widespread use of the antiviral drug amantadine as a preventive or treatment for chickens in China starting in the late 1990s, some strains of the avian flu virus in Asia have developed drug resistance against amantadine [3]
Chickens in China have received an estimated 2.6 billion doses of amantadine since early 2004. This use of amantadine for poultry goes against international livestock regulations, but China kept it secret until recently, in a manner reminiscent of the secrecy around the early spread of SARS.
Preparations for current potential Bird Flu epidemic
In September 2005 a UN health official warned that a bird flu outbreak could happen anytime and had the potential to kill 5-150 million people.
In October 2005, President Bush urged bird flu vaccine manufacturers to increase their production.
On October 5, 2005, Democratic Senators Harry Reid, Evan Bayh, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, and Tom Harkin introduced the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Act as a proposal to deal with a possible outbreak. The bill calls for:
Preparing for a pandemic by finalizing, implementing and funding pandemic preparedness and response plans.
Improving surveillance and international partnerships to monitor the spread of avian flu and detect the emergence of a flu strain with pandemic potential immediately.
Protecting Americans through the development, production and distribution of an effective vaccine.
Planning ahead for a pandemic by stockpiling antivirals, vaccines and other essential medications and supplies.
Strengthening the public health infrastructure.
Increasing awareness and education about pandemic flu.
Devoting adequate resources to pandemic preparedness.
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