State, hospitals plan for response if outbreak occurs

Whether it’s the lethal pestilence some are dreading, or this year’s “Y2K crisis” that won’t amount to anything, a potential bird flu pandemic has S.C. health officials scrutinizing plans for coping with this type of outbreak.

A possible flu pandemic has been on the state’s radar screen since at least 1999. But with heightened awareness about avian (bird) flu this year, officials are tweaking emergency plans by asking such questions as:

• How can the state help residents understand what might be coming and how they can protect themselves?

• How would antiviral drugs and vaccines be distributed fairly to those who need them most?

• What should hospitals and doctors’ offices do to prepare?

• If hundreds or thousands of people are laid up with the flu, how will communities maintain essential public services?

“Chances are certainly less than 50/50 that we’ll get a pandemic in the next 12 months,” said Dr. Jerry Gibson, state epidemiologist with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

But if we do, it will be different from handling a national disaster like a flood or earthquake.

“The difference, of course, is that there aren’t very many disasters that hit everywhere,” Gibson said. “But this one, almost by definition, would hit everywhere, though it might not strike every place at once.

“We’re going to have to depend on our own resources.”

Assuming a bird flu vaccine were made available — that’s being addressed at the federal level, as President Bush noted Tuesday — a main goal would be to vaccinate as many people as possible.

Drive-through clinics could facilitate that. Health workers and high-risk people would have highest priority. Law enforcement personnel could be called on to assist with vaccine security, transport and storage, according to the state plan.

As a precaution, Gibson said, people should consider having such supplies as nonperishable food on hand. During the peak of a pandemic, you can limit your risks by not being out and about.

Hospitals are making plans, too. For example, the Palmetto Health’s Children’s Hospital is considering purchasing special face masks for kids that have Disney characters on them.

If flu were widespread, everyone with symptoms would be asked to put on a mask as soon as he or she entered the emergency room, said Debby Rapp, infection control coordinator for Palmetto Health Richland. Conscientious hand-washing and getting vaccinated against the regular flu also are important for staying healthy, she said.

If the bird flu mutated to become more contagious among humans, foreign travelers could play a major role in spreading it, Rapp said. With that in mind, the hospital makes sure new patients are asked whether they have traveled recently, she said.

Other measures include brainstorming about how to maintain enough nurses on staff. Nursing students, retired nurses and school nurses could be called on in an emergency, Rapp said.

“In the case of a pandemic, all of us in the community would have to work together.”

Reach Lamb at (803) 771-8454 or llamb@thestate.com.