Alabama ready to deal with flu
July 26th, 2007
Alabama state officials have declared that the health department has prepared a batch of 500 thousand doses of antiviral medicine for the case of mutation of the bird flu virus which is ravaging Asia and is likely to spread to other parts of the world sometime in the near future. A further transport of 700,000 doses is expected within days of an official discovery of the virus in the state.
Dr Don Williamson, one of the State Health Officers, says that there is no proven bird flu vaccine at the moment, as an effective vaccine takes months to develop after an exact virus is identified. Williamson’s comments were made during a public health department-sponsored drill meant to simulate a bird flu outbreak in the area. Volunteers posing as victims were treated by trained health workers, who kept in touch with hospitals and health officials across the state.