The University has the facilities to study prevention and treatment of the avian flu, an infectious diseases professor said last week.

Within the Animal Health Research Center of the College of Veterinary Medicine lies Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2), BSL3 and BSL3 Ag+ containment levels that provide state of the art research in emerging infectious diseases such as influenza, said Ralph Tripp, a professor in the department of infectious diseases.

Tripp, along with three other University and local experts, gathered in a panel Thursday night sponsored by the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute to present their work in relation to the growing public health issue of bird flu, clarifying the nature of the disease and whom it affects.

Erica Spackman, a Research Microbiologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, said the bird flu, or avian influenza, is a virus with a natural reservoir in waterfowl, shorebirds and gulls that can infect poultry.  

In rare cases, a low pathogenic avian influenza virus, which causes mild or no disease in poultry, mutates into a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, which is highly lethal for turkeys and chickens.  

“The highly pathogenic bird flu is not pandemic flu,” Spackman said.

Avian influenza can be transmitted to people but it is very rare, she said. The Asian H5N1 currently causing problems in Asia and Europe is one of these rare occurrences and is a variation within the H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus.  

The Asian H5N1 is not a normal flu virus in that it has an unusually wide host range (which includes humans) and can be deadly for everything it infects, Spackman said.

She said extensive contact with infected poultry is necessary for transmission of avian influenza and no human-to-human transmission has been documented for Asian H5N1.  

Should human-to-human transmission occur with Asian H5N1, there could be a pandemic, or widely spread disease throughout the population, said Mark Tompkins, an assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases.

In pandemic flu, he said, a major change in antigens occurs, resulting in a virus that human immune systems have never seen and for which there is no residual immunity.

“Healthy people are just as or more susceptible (to pandemic flu) – it’s not clear why,” Tompkins said.  

A vaccine will not protect against pandemic avian influenza as it will only become available within three to six months of outbreak. But public health measures, such as hand-washing, can offer some protection, he said.

Robert Hogan, an assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy and Radiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said simple public health measures are what stopped the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.  

“Public health measures are one of the first and best approaches to deal with emerging infectious diseases,” Hogan said.

The audience of about 90 people included students from both science and non-science backgrounds.  

No matter what the audience’s understanding of Asian H5N1 as a possible pandemic flu, Spackman’s message was clear.

“We need to be prepared, but not panicked,” she said.