Policy Podcast: Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic VIDEO PODCAST TEXT

John E. Lange, Special Representative, Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Sean McCormack, Department Spokesman. Launch in external Player. FULL STREAMING VIDEO, PODCAST OF THIS ARTICLE, MR. MCCORMACK: Welcome, Ambassador John Lange, Special Representative for Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic here at the State Department.

Thanks for joining us for Coffee Break at the State Department. I'd first like to talk to you a little bit about where we stand with respect to Avian Influenza. When we last left this issue, it was blaring across the headlines. People were concerned about the transmission from animals to humans and then the possibility of human-to-human transmission. Can you fill us in on where we stand, how has the virus evolved or mutated and what's the specific threat now to humans from the Avian Influenza?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: Thanks. I'll be happy to talk about that, because the threat is the same now as it was before. The majority of experts, really, the mainstream scientists will tell you that it's far too early to dismiss this as a serious threat. In the year 2006, Avian Influenza spread primarily in poultry populations. It started in 14 countries at the beginning of 2006. By the end of the year, it was in 55 countries. So there was really quite a dramatic spread.

MR. MCCORMACK: Is there a geographic focus for these countries -- 55?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: Yes. In fact, it has not yet hit the Western Hemisphere as we speak. It started out in Southeast Asia and then, especially in the spring of 2006, moved to Africa and to Europe and the Middle East. And now, it's -- while it's been stamped out in some of those countries, those particularly in Western Europe, in some other countries, it's really still in existence and may even become endemic.

So that Avian Influenza spread is of great concern not only because of the economic loss; when you have chickens that are dying, you -- if you're really going to stamp this out, you have to take a lot of action to kill birds within a certain radius of the site that is infected, you have to compensate the farmers, you have to, in some cases, vaccinate the chickens just so that you can prevent the disease from spreading. And it really affects the economies of these countries.

But the big concern for many people in the back of their minds is what if this mutates? What if the H5N1 virus ever goes from just being a virus that is in chickens and other poultry and foul that humans can get, but if -- only if they're very close to the poultry and if instead, it mutates to form human-to-human transmission?

And that's a driving concern at the highest levels of the United States Government and around the world, because if you have that human-to-human transmission, you -- and if it becomes sustained and efficient, we then have a global pandemic. It may be a mild pandemic like the one we had in 1968. It was a little worse in 1957. But the fear is it would be -- the worst case that we're aware of in the 20th century, 1918. And that 1918 pandemic severity is quite scary. You could have 70 million people in the world die; 1.9 million of them would be Americans in the worst-case scenarios. That's a very scary thought and that's why we're so concerned about this.

MR. MCCORMACK: It certainly is. So I know that these viruses are inherently unpredictable in how they may or may not mutate. Have the scientists detected any mutations that make this more dangerous now for human-to-human contact or is it sort of maintaining the same threat level, if you will?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: It's about the same threat level. There was a case in which there could have been human-to-human-to-human transmission back in May of last year in the Southeast Asia region, but then it died out. And we're monitoring this on a regular basis. Every day, we get reports in for --

MR. MCCORMACK: How do you monitor? What is the specific mechanism? How do you connect from a clinic in Indonesia to Washington, DC, where you can evaluate all the data? How does that connection work?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: The U.S. Government's national strategy has the Secretary of State coordinating our international engagement. And so my office is really an interagency office that works very closely with the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of U.S. -- of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and others.

And we then are working very closely with the U.S. embassies, with governments around the world to try to follow what is going on. We have laboratory facilities in some of those countries and we're in regular touch with them. In fact, even today, there was a concern that we had in which there had been a concern of a doctor may have become infected by a patient who died of H5N1. It turned out to be a false alarm, but that immediately caused us to call a U.S. Government laboratory in that country to find out exactly what was going on. So we're very much on top of this and there are many, many others in the world who are following this very closely.

MR. MCCORMACK: So this sounds like a pretty extensive effort. What sort of resources are we devoting to this? You know, you always hear from doctors and medical professionals that prevention is a big part of stopping something like this from happening, you know, getting on top of it quickly. So what sort of resources are we devoting to it?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: There's a whole domestic side of this which I will leave to the Department of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and others to talk about. But the -- on the international side, the world community and the donor governments and others have pledged a total so far of $2.3 billion for the international assistance to -- for countries on that. The United States Government is the largest donor and our pledge at this point is $434 million.

So we have a lot of programs that we're doing to -- and we're not just focusing on immediate concerns. If we had the opportunity to build some long-term capacity, we're trying to do that through our resources; improving laboratories, training veterinarians, helping countries to try to stamp out the Avian Influenza virus and to deal with the spread of the Avian Influenza, while at the same time, to prepare for a possible pandemic.

And that's one of the key distinctions. Avian Influenza is what is occurring in birds and particular chickens. We're concerned also about a possible human pandemic and once a pandemic begins and we hope it never does -- we're not sure that this will happen with this particular virus, but if it does happen, at that point, the focus is on the humans because you won't get sick from a chicken; you'll get sick from a human.

MR. MCCORMACK: So your office, then, could -- if you -- if there is any future threat from a different kind of virus, then your office would be responsible for preparing ourselves for a possible human pandemic, then?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: Yes, as long as we're around, although I have to say a good word -- our temporary office will be around for a few years, I assume, and the focus is really on this particular threat, because that's what has galvanized scientists and others because they're very concerned, the way this virus has spread, that the severity -- even though a relatively small number of people in the world have become infected from the virus because it's very hard to get -- you have to be very close to the chicken to be infected -- it's under 300 people in the world who become infected by this; over half of them have died. So it's very severe once one gets infected from this and if it ever mutates, we're very concerned.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Let me ask you on behalf of all the travelers out there, what can they do to protect themselves? We certainly -- we don't want to alarm people, but what can they do to be smart if they're going to countries where there is a proven presence of the H5N1? What steps do they need to take?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: The first thing I would do is to check with the United States Embassy and their website in terms of any notifications that have been sent from the consular section in terms of notices to any Americans who are living in the country or traveling to the country, because our embassies have been very much aware of this concern and they will provide advice.

And in countries that have endemic Avian Influenza, you just want to take some normal precautions, make sure that the chicken you're eating has been cooked to a proper temperature, which is 165 degrees Fahrenheit, make sure that if you deal with raw chicken, you're washing your hands with soap afterward, some basic precautions that one would take.

As I said, it's very hard to get the Avian Influenza from a chicken unless you're very close to it, but in the areas where there is widespread concern and where the disease is present, those precautions are warranted.

MR. MCCORMACK: Okay. Ambassador Lange, thanks so much for joining us here at Coffee Break at the State Department. It's been very informative. And so people, if they want to get more up-to-date information, they can visit the embassy websites or get to them through state.gov?

AMBASSADOR LANGE: Well, there's another catch-all United States Government website that they may find very interesting. It's called state.gov/waterfall/www.pandemicflu.gov. And on that website, you can find the guidance that is provided by the Centers for Disease, Control, and Prevention; you can find information on the President's Initiative for the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, which we work with other countries on, and many other activities. It's really a catch-all website that we have.

MR. MCCORMACK: It sounds like a great resource for people.

AMBASSADOR LANGE: That's what we try to do, a one-stop shopping for this.

MR. MCCORMACK: Good. Ambassador Lange, thanks so much for joining us.

AMBASSADOR LANGE: Thanks very much. # # #

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