Avian Flu Fears Said to Help U.S. Prepare for Swine Flu

June 4, 2009
By Donald G. McNeil Jr.

Six years of worrying about bird flu did much to prepare the United States for the current swine flu outbreak, federal officials and an independent monitoring group said Thursday, but they cautioned that there were still gaps in planning.

After the H5N1 avian flu emerged widely in Asia in 2003, killing about 60 percent of those infected by it, many countries took steps to head off the crisis that would emerge if that virus were to acquire the ability to jump easily from human to human. It has not, but a number of the measures were helpful.

The first case of the H1N1 virus in the United States - a San Diego resident who is believed to have fallen ill on March 28 - was uncovered only because of pandemic planning, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

© 2009 The New York Times Company

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