Bush Wants Right To Use Military If Bird Flu Hits

Reuters ^ | 10/4/05

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic.

He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection.

"If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference.

"It's one thing to shut down airplanes. It's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine?" Bush added.

"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."

Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.

Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which appears to be highly fatal when it infects people, will develop the ability to pass easily from person to person and would cause a pandemic that would kill millions.

"And I think the president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said.

He noted that some governors may object to the federal government commandeering the National Guard, which is under state command in most circumstances.

POLICE DUTIES BANNED

"But Congress needs to take a look at circumstances that may need to vest the capacity of the president to move beyond that debate. And one such catastrophe or one such challenge could be an avian flu outbreak," Bush said.

The active duty military is currently forbidden from undertaking law enforcement duties by the federal Posse Comitatus Act.

That law, passed in 1878 after the U.S. Civil War, does not prohibit National Guard troops under state control from doing police work. But, unless the law is changed, it would keep them from doing so if they were activated by Washington under federal control.

While the law allows the president to order the military to take control and do police work in an extreme emergency, the White House has been traditionally reluctant to usurp state powers.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters he was not aware of any current planning by the military to help respond to a flu pandemic.

But he noted that after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf region, Bush had asked Congress to consider giving the military control over initial response in dealing with major natural or other domestic disasters.

"Obviously the (Defense) Department has a tremendous amount of capability in a lot of areas. And we are a large force," Whitman said, noting also that the military had deployed field hospitals to Louisiana after the hurricanes.

Health experts are working to develop vaccines that would protect against the H5N1 strain of flu, because current influenza vaccines will not.

And countries are also developing stockpiles of drugs that can reduce the risk of serious disease or even sometimes prevent infection -- but supplies and manufacturing capacity are both limited.

Bush said he was involved in planning for an influenza pandemic, which experts say will definitely come, although they cannot predict when, or whether it will be H5N1 or some other virus. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fox)

[A.Hun]

Gee whiz bud, how much more do you need. No in the field study can eliminate every possible cause. If this is not good enough, you won't be convinced till you catch it.

Good luck.

[Judith Anne]

Great article from the NEJM, and thanks for posting. I doubt it'll meet the standards (undefined, frankly) demanded by our inquiring poster.

[Protagoras]

Proof may be nice to have,

It is not nice to have, it is essential when making statements as if they are fact.

I never made any comment whatsoever about ANY other topic than the inaccurate statement.

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Is that the Jakarta story I posted that you are talking about? Or is there another?

[Judith Anne]

See? What did I tell you? After all, the poster deserves for us to go look him up something "better" than the NEJM and the CDC.

Actually, I think he's playing a freaking game. The payoff is, he feels important. I quit.

[A.Hun]

I'm done too. Enough is enough.

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Results The index patient became ill three to four days after her last exposure to dying household chickens. Her mother came from a distant city to care for her in the hospital, had no recognized exposure to poultry, and died from pneumonia after providing 16 to 18 hours of unprotected nursing care. The aunt also provided unprotected nursing care; she had fever five days after the mother first had fever, followed by pneumonia seven days later. Autopsy tissue from the mother and nasopharyngeal and throat swabs from the aunt were positive for influenza A (H5N1) by RT-PCR. No additional chains of transmission were identified, and sequencing of the viral genes identified no change in the receptor-binding site of hemagglutinin or other key features of the virus. The sequences of all eight viral gene segments clustered closely with other H5N1 sequences from recent avian isolates in Thailand.

Conclusions Disease in the mother and aunt probably resulted from person-to-person transmission of this lethal avian influenzavirus during unprotected exposure to the critically ill index patient.

That says it all in a nutshell. Thanks for the link.

[Protagoras]

Gee whiz Bud, how many more times do you have to be shown that your statement was incorrect before you just admit it, and agree with ALL the links you have posted that it is probable, likely, possible, possibly inevitable, and all the other things they so clearly said time after time article after article.

Why you are so intent on convincing me of something I never even addressed is beyond mysterious.

It's amazing, just dig in the old heels and pretend everyone else doesn't get it. Scheech.... You were wrong, Judith was wrong. Oh well.

[Judith Anne]

Vietnam, earlier this year, last spring, I think.

Anyway, I've re-read so much stuff I'm not positive anymore.

Later. ;-D

[A.Hun]

My pleasure. Thank you!

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Let me see...when I was a little girl my sister had the measles, I then caught the measles myself. I 'PROBABLY' caught them from her./sarc

Why some can't see that logic is beyond me.

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Thanks, later.

[A.Hun]

People generally see what they want, for good or ill.

[Judith Anne]

It's amazing, just dig in the old heels and pretend everyone else doesn't get it. Scheech.... You were wrong, Judith was wrong. Oh well.

You don't get it. We don't care what you think. We used to, but not anymore. We have p-antibodies. That's protagoras antibodies, for you laypeople.

We had a good dose of your questions and demands, and now, viola! we're immune!

Have a great life! ;-D

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I agree 100%.

I'm glad Bush is making plans for the 'IF' situtation.

[Protagoras]

I thought you were through with me? I just can't keep these women away from me! :^}

[mabelkitty]

HELL NO!

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Looks like Canada is having some sort of problem. The number of their sick patients, afflicted with "A mystery Illness" seems to be growing.

[JOAT]

bookmark bump

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Mystery Illness Toll in Toronto Increases To Ten Dead

Recombinomics Commentary October 4, 2005

Dr. McKeown provided the following update:

- Since yesterday there have been four additional deaths for a total of ten in the outbreak.

- The outbreak has so far affected a total of 70 residents, 12 employees and two visitors at Seven Oaks.

- 40 residents from Seven Oaks have been admitted to hospital.

The above update reveals a much more serious condition than yesterday. The number dead has increased to 10 from 6 and the number of residents admitted to Toronto area hospitals has increased from 30 to 40. Thus, 50 of the 70 residents infected have been hospitalized or died. The deaths are over 14% of the infected residents. In addition, the number of employees infected has risen form 8 to 12, suggesting more residents will show symptoms due to later exposure dates.

There has still been no etiological agent identified, so negative data for H5N1 remains suspect. The increasing numbers of dead patients should provide sufficient autopsy material for identification of this deadly and highly infectious agent.