Tennessee has pandemic flu plan

State's bird flu plan a sensible move
July 10, 2006
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The state has a plan in case it is hit by a flu epidemic, a plan that encompasses 205 pages and deals with how thousands of health care workers and others hope to contain a virus that may spread so quickly it can't be contained.
With a divisive war, rising gasoline prices, environmental challenges and a hot summer taking most of our attention, the creeping reality is that the world may also soon have to get a grip on the so-called bird flu. Most health experts fear it will spread beyond Asia and hit the United States. When? Nobody knows for sure, but they seem united in their belief that it's coming.

The state's plan outlines how patients would be quarantined, how vaccine would be distributed and how agencies would coordinate their efforts. Exercises are planned this winter. Local agencies must turn in their own response plans to state officials.

It's scary. The plan predicts a virus would infect three in 10 Tennesseans and cause between about 4,200 and 38,000 deaths. About 900,000 could seek outpatient care, with an estimated 198,000 requiring hospitalization. One shudders to think what it would do to Sevier County's tourism industry.

It's good to see the state getting ready for such an outbreak, even if there is no assurance we'll be affected. Remember, we had no idea about terrorist attacks, ether, or a plan to handle them. Since Sept. 11, 2001, agencies have coordinated their efforts to be ready in case it happens again. That's the idea behind a strategy to confront a flu pandemic. Develop a plan that seems workable, make sure everybody understands the plan and has a role in it, and then practice it. There are no signs the virus has hit North America, but more than 130 people have died in 53 countries. The fear of bioterrorism makes the flu a potential weapon.

You'd think medicine had advanced to the point where we wouldn't have to be afraid of such a pandemic. Not so. This thing is a real threat. Thanks to state and local officials in Tennessee, it may not turn out to be as bad as it could be.


©The Mountain Press 2006