Doctor: United States Unprepared For Bird Flu
WASHINGTON: Bird flu will hit the United States—it's only a matter of time—and not all states are ready to respond to the deadly virus, the Homeland Security Department's top doctor warns.

Dr. Jeffrey Runge, Homeland Security's chief medical officer, said "it's not a matter of if, but when" bird flu enters the country" but it won't pose a critical threat until the virus can spread consistently between people, he said.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Runge said states with experience in dealing with hurricanes or terrorist attacks are more ready to face bird flu.

He did not identify those that have been slow to prepare, but said state and local governments must carry most of the burden of planning for an outbreak, including readying emergency medical workers, providing hospital beds and setting up treatment centers outside of immediate disaster areas.

"Some states still have the idea that if it makes people sick, it's simply a health event," Runge said. "And others are much more forward reaching, and understand that they have to prepare for things like civil unrest, or interruption of the supply chain, or the failure of critical infrastructure to keep going, to keep the nation going in the event of some catastrophic event. And those are the ones that we think are the best prepared."

Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., who leads the National Governors Association, said states have "pretty much been told to prepare to row their own boat" in responding to bird flu.

Federal health officials "were pretty candid with us," Huckabee said in an interview. "The federal government simply does not have the resources themselves to deal with this on a mass level. And if a pandemic does occur, it will overwhelm their resources, just like it will overwhelm ours."

NewsMax.com 5/19/06