The national and international communities have recently been concerned with the possibility of an avian influenza pandemic and have urged local agencies to start preparing response plans to counter an outbreak. The current strain of bird flu, H5N1, has been detected in birds in Southeast Asia since 2003 and in Eastern Europe. Marquette, Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin are all at different stages in its preparations.

Marquette

Marquette does not yet have a specific plan to deal with an avian flu outbreak, but is working on one.

The university is currently preparing a plan to handle such an outbreak in the case of a pandemic, in accordance with Milwaukee and Wisconsin protocol.

Brigid O'Brien Miller, director of university communication, said the university has formed a committee to discuss specific bird flu plans.

"Student Health Services has collaborated with the local health department and other universities to discuss their preparations," she said.

The committee has not yet met, but will work before Christmas break to pool resources and formulate different plans for various pandemic scenarios, said Dana Mills, director of Student Health Service.

The university already has a protocol that works with the Milwaukee Health Department during public health crises, O'Brien Miller said.

Marquette's protocol for a public health crisis is a nine-step process that includes instituting control measures to prevent further transmission to others and working with the health department to develop a crisis communication network.

"This plan could be alternated or expanded based on when and where the bird flu could occur," Mills said.

Milwaukee

Milwaukee's pandemic flu plan still needs to be finalized and reviewed by the state Department of Health of Family Services, said Raquel Filmanowicz, health communications officer for the Milwaukee Health Department.

"There are several components to our plan that mirror the national pandemic flu plan," she said. "These parts include risk communication, vaccine distribution and quarantine and isolation measures."

According to Centers for Disease Control spokesman Marshall Quin, 5 to 20 percent of the population nationwide contracts influenza. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized and 36,000 people die from the flu annually, he said.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin has had an influenza outbreak plan in place since 2001, said Stephanie Marquis, communications director for the Wisconsin Department Health of Family Services.

The plan includes how to respond to an outbreak, how to develop a plan in the case of an outbreak and protocol for working with the county and local health departments in the event of an outbreak.

"There have been national calls for states to start preparing bird flu plans," Marquis said. "Wisconsin has been prepared since 2001; we're ahead of the game."

The state recently expanded its plan to make it a two-pronged response to deal with both human and animal outbreaks.

The new plan will also focus on a particular strain of flu, specifically the current H5N1 strain of bird flu that is causing concern among the worldwide health community.

Marquis said the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources have joined DHFS in working to develop preparations for an animal response.

"We wanted to make sure we had the resources to protect our agriculture across the state," Marquis said.

The state's current plan is geared toward birds that could be threatened by the flu but will be expanded to include other animals. Marquis did not elaborate on which types of birds are at risk.

President Bush had prepared a $7.1 billion plan to deal with bird flu, Marquis said, but Congress denied this proposal.

"Wisconsin will continue to plan without any indication on the specifics of federal resources we'd receive," Marquis said.

According to Marquis, Wisconsin's testing for bird flu exceeds the Centers for Disease Control's recommendations.

"Part of our plan is surveillance," Marquis said. "We're monitoring the current situation around the world."

If someone shows symptoms of influenza and has recently traveled to an area of the world affected by the bird flu, specifically Southeastern Asia, they are encouraged to be tested for bird flu by their regular physician.

Since January 2004, 19 people in the state have been tested for bird flu. None of those people tested positive, Marquis said.

If an outbreak were to occur, DHFS would initially respond with isolation. This would result in designating wards and floors in hospitals where those infected with bird flu would be kept away from those who are not infected, Marquis said. People would also be encouraged to stay home from work or school if they were sick.

After isolation, a quarantine could be enforced by the state health officer, Marquis said. This would segregate the population and could lead to the cancellation of public events by the health officer if there was a risk for widespread infection, she said.

Forecast for the Future

There have been no cases of human-to-human infection and no widespread bird-to-human outbreak, Marquis said.

"Right now this is a possible candidate for widespread infection, but there is no way to guarantee if this will be a pandemic or not," Marquis said.

CDC sends notices to local health departments to keep them up to date on the current flu situation, said Christine Peterson, a spokeswoman for the CDC.

According to Marshall Quin, a spokesman for the CDC, the National Institutes of Health has completed a vaccine for the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.

"The vaccine has been completed but has not started being manufactured yet," Quin said.