2008 Woodie Awards
Colleges, nation consider potential for bird flu outbreak
Nicole Klaas, Editor-In-Chief
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As Americans file in for their flu shots, there's growing concern that a new type of influenza could cause a worldwide pandemic.
College Nurse Kathy Welch-Krause was recently educated about the avian flu at a health conference in Minnesota. She says she's somewhat worried, but remaining optimistic.
The conference included speaker Dr. Michael Osterholm, who educated the group on the flu. Osterholm is director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy and an associate director at the Department of Homeland Security's National Center.
"We don't know when a pandemic could hit," says Welch-Krause. "Osterholm said it could happen tomorrow or it could happen in five years. Everyone's predicting something different."
Pandemic Possibility
The avian flu, commonly referred to as the bird flu, is a type of the influenza virus hosted by wild birds. Current fears revolve around the virus' mutation.
According to Welch-Krause, the virus' first mutation made it transferable to domestic birds. "Now the virus has changed enough so it's communicable between birds to humans," she says.
The strain of bird flu that's communicable to humans began in Asia but recently has been identified in several European countries.
Junior John McCullough says the spread of the bird flu into Europe makes him uneasy.
"I'm concerned, especially because my parents work at St. Agnus Hospital and when I last heard from my mother she said it's been crossing through Europe, and working its way west," he says.
Other students, including senior Jon Wright feel fear of a pandemic is unfounded.
"People are being stupid about it because they believe anything that's told to them on the TV," he says. "People are being overly concerned about it."
While there have been cases of human death, the strain is not yet transferable person to person.
"As soon as the virus changes itself enough to become communicable between person to person that's when we probably will have a pandemic outbreak," says Welch-Krause. "We have had ten pandemics in the last 300 years, and this is supposedly going to be the next major one," she says.
If it becomes a pandemic, the effects could be devastating, with the potential to be more deadly than the 1918 Spanish flu that killed more than 50 million people.
"Some people argue it's not a matter of if we can prevent this and that it's just a matter of time," says McCullough. "I agree. I think eventually it'll be here. It's just a matter of dealing with it when it comes."
Impact on 20-Somethings
"Most viruses go on what medical professionals call a U-curve, which means infants and young children will die and also elderly people. But this flu will be different because it will be on what's called a W-curve, so it will affect infants and young children, and it will affect a lot of people in their 20s, and then it will again hit the elderly," says Welch-Krause. "So it really puts the college-age population at great risk."
Some colleges are already preparing for an outbreak.
"We worry that at our university, there is a potential to introduce influenza very easily," says Craig Roberts, an epidemiologist at UW-Madison. "We have students and faculty traveling to high-risk countries for influenza all the time. One of the scenarios is that they'll come back and introduce it to this community."
Welch-Krause says Ripon College will "work really closely with Fond du Lac County and follow their guidelines as to what should happen if people were diagnosed with avian flu."
She also notes travel may have to be monitored if an outbreak occurred, especially travel abroad.
Federal Response
Last week the President asked Congress for $7.1 billion in emergency funds to prepare the country for a possible outbreak.
In his speech, Bush called for the stockpiling of enough vaccine to protect 20 million Americans and research into new technology that could speed up vaccine production.
"There's a lot of concern all over about this and everyone is getting ready, preparing themselves for it," says Welch-Krause.