THE US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is at the forefront of tackling what it expects to be the rapid spread of swine flu in the US.
This is in part because it has the expertise on the ground, but also because the new administration in Washington has yet to appoint officials to run the department. Like many Washington departments, the slow process of filling crucial leadership posts is far from complete. The new health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, is awaiting congressional confirmation.
Tom Skinner, a spokesman for CDC, was quick to praise the administration for doing a “fabulous job” in responding to the outbreak, but hinted that the appointment of a new health secretary and officials would be welcome.
“We certainly look forward to the [new health] secretary when she is confirmed bringing the leadership . . . to further this along,” he said.
Responsibility for responding to a crisis that only seems likely to grow is divided between the CDC and health officials in individual US states. “We’ve begun work on a vaccine. There’s a seed virus that we’re currently sharing with the vaccine manufacturers,” said Mr Skinner.
But it could take up to six months for the vaccine to be developed and distributed. In the meantime, the CDC expects some states to begin implementing emergency measures. “It’s reasonable to expect more cases in more states. It’s reasonable to expect communities to take more measures that they feel is necessary to take to prevent the spread of the virus, whether that’s cancelling schools or cancelling public events, encouraging social distancing. Those are things that we should expect to happen if it continues to spread the way it is spreading right now,” said Mr Skinner.
There are treatments available, such as Tamiflu, which was developed to confront an avian flu epidemic. But it has to be administered early to be effective and officials fear people will not recognise the symptoms in time.
They also fear others will interpret everything from a sore throat to a hangover as swine flu and overwhelm hospitals, preventing those who have contracted the disease from being diagnosed in time. – (Guardian service)