JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
AP Worldstream
10-05-2005
Dateline: WASHINGTON
President George W. Bush, stirring debate on the worrisome possibility of a bird flu pandemic, suggested federal troops might be dispatched to enforce quarantines in areas where the killer virus might emerge.
Bush asserted aggressive action could be needed to prevent a potentially crippling U.S. outbreak of an avian flu strain that is sweeping through Asian poultry and causing experts to fear it could mutate to pass human to human and become the next deadly pandemic. Citing worries that state and local authorities might be unable to contain and deal with such an outbreak, Bush asked Congress to give him the authority to call in the military.
So far the virus has infected few individuals, almost all of whom are known to have contracted it from birds. At least 65 people have died, and tens of millions of birds either died or have been culled. The flu virus mutates easily, but no evidence has been found that the current H5N1 has mutated into a form that might pass person-to-person.
Doctors say such a mutation would be catastrophic because human immune systems have built no defense against the strain.
Bush already has indicated he wants to give the armed forces the lead responsibility for conducting search-and-rescue operations and sending in supplies after massive natural disasters or terror attacks, which could require changes in current law. Even some military leaders have reacted to skeptically to the idea.
As described by Bush on Tuesday, it raised the startling-to-some image of soldiers cordoning off communities hit by disease.
"The president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said during a 55 minute question-and-answer session with reporters in the White House's Rose Garden.
Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, called the president's suggestion an "extraordinarily Draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of anti-virals like Tamiflu and not allowed the degradation of the public health system.
"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.
The key question he introduced into the debate Tuesday was who would control it: the states that by law now have the main responsibility for containing an outbreak within their borders, or the federal government, which typically has been in charge of keeping diseases from entering the country.
Bush signed an executive order in April adding pandemic influenza to the government's list of communicable diseases for which quarantine is authorized.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives these statistics for three such pandemics occurred last century:
_In 1918-19, "Spanish flu" killed up to 50 million worldwide and more than 500,000 in the United States.
_In 1957-58, "Asian flu" killed about 70,000 in the United States.
_In 1968-69, "Hong Kong flu" killed about 34,000 in the United States.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president envisioned possible military control of the quarantine process only "in the most extreme circumstances" and when state and local resources were overwhelmed.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military has not been asked to develop such a plan, but he noted that the military maintains relevant capabilities such as mobile medical units, hospital ships and the ability to create field hospitals quickly.
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On the Net:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pandemics page: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/pandemics.htm