Osceola Co. responders hold flu drill

REED CITY — For three hours doctors and health planners drove home the message — this is not your usual case of the flu.

Avian flu is a fast-spreading and deadly cousin of the sniffles, chills and fever that might have kept you out of work or school for a few days last winter.

More than half of those who get it die. Most of the victims so far have been teenagers and young adults.

And while this often-fatal version of the flu is still largely confined to Southeast Asia and parts of southern Europe, health experts here are convinced it’s only a matter of time before it reaches our shores.

The message was a sobering and sometimes outright frightening lesson for more than 100 health and public safety responders from Lake, Osceola and Mecosta counties. They were summoned to Reed City Thursday by state health planners bent on educating the public.

Their goal: Preventing a flu pandemic.

Health, public safety and other officials from Wexford County are meeting today for a similar planning session.

“If you leave here with no other message today,” said Dr. Robert Graham, “it is this: Your job is to stop the spread of pandemic influenza.”

Graham is medical director for Michigan’s Mid and Central health districts and his message was clear and concise.

“One of the most important ways to stop the spread of communicable disease,” said Graham, “is to inform the public. This thing hits like a ton of bricks.”

Graham and others urged local responders to begin by developing plans now to prevent the spread of Avian flu.

To date, no case of the deadly virus has been found in the U.S., although one state — Alaska — is considered a potential hot spot. Graham said that’s because the virus originates in waterfowl and the migratory birds found in Alaska — ducks and geese — often cross paths with those in Southeast Asia, where the flu is escalating.

Graham’s collegue, Dr. John Wilson, noted that while there are vaccines for Avian flu, they aren’t available publicly. The vaccines are being stockpiled by the U.S. government and will be rationed nationwide during an outbreak under a formula developed by the Centers for Disease Control.

Graham said the most effective way to stop or at least check the spread of the flu during an outbreak is to avoid contact with others.

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