Planning for a pandemic

June 25, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - State officials don't want to be alarmist, but they want Alaskans ready in case the notorious bird flu strain H5N1 morphs into a deadly human virus.

The virus, which first was detected in 2003 in Asia, is spreading across the globe. It has yet to reach North or South America, but with the annual migration of birds into Alaska, biologists and health officials worry it could reach the state this summer.

So far, more than 100 people have died from the virus, but it still is difficult for humans to contract.

Health officials from around the world, however, are concerned the virus might one day evolve into a strain that that could wipe out millions of people.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, more than a dozen state officials plan to spend two full days in the Mat-Su. Their mission is to offer area residents some idea of how to tackle a possible deadly outbreak.

Jim Mackin of the Alaska Division of Public Health will open the two-day seminar. As the state's preparedness director, Mackin is charged with helping Alaska communities understand the difference between avian flu (which is passed more easily from bird to bird) and pandemic influenza, which could become a serious health threat if the flu mutates into a human virus.

Mackin and a team of state officials already have visited more than a half-dozen communities across the state. As the group criss-crosses Alaska, they meet with local law enforcement, business leaders, medical officers, emergency responders and others.

During their Mat-Su stop, the team hopes to address the nuts and bolts of how businesses, hospitals, the borough, schools and utilities would operate under a pandemic outbreak.

Mackin and his team began touring the state in mid-May, and despite the miles, he said there is much work ahead.

&#8220We still have a long way to go before we can stand up and say we are prepared,” he said Friday. &#8220We are ahead of some states, but we still have an awful long way to go.”

The goal is to help local communities establish their own response plans. That means the public and private sectors will have to collaborate.

The Mat-Su seminar will consist of more than 20 presentations dealing with everything from quarantine procedures for an infected population to general disaster preparedness.

A special presentation is set for medical staff at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to help clinicians positively identify a pandemic flu.

The seminars, which are geared toward those who will help respond to a possible pandemic, will take place at the Central Mat-Su Fire Department in Wasilla.

A town hall meeting also is planned for 7 p.m. Tuesday, where the general public is invited to learn more about a possible flu pandemic.

The event will culminate Wednesday afternoon with a tabletop exercise, where community leaders will participate in a mock planning exercise that assumes a pandemic flu has infected the Valley.

For more information about Avian influenza in Alaska, visit the state Web site at alaska.fws.gov/media/avian_influenza/.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@ frontiersman.com.