What are public health officials doing about bird flu?
• If bird flu evolved into a pandemic, every country in the world could be affected. International experts at the World Health Organization are working together to carefully watch for bird flu outbreaks in birds and humans. Increasingly, nations are sharing information on disease outbreaks, collaborating on methods to control the spread of infection, and preparing for the possibility of a pandemic. • The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with national and international partners to control further outbreaks of avian influenza and to prepare for the possibility of an influenza pandemic. • CDC is working with the World Health Organization and the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to investigate H5N1 cases in Vietnam, and in training local authorities. The CDC is starting a $5.5 million initiative to improve influenza surveillance in Asia. • In the U.S., the CDC is working with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to train personnel at state laborator
