Flu Pandemic Inevitable

A University of Iowa scientist told her audience that a flu pandemic was "inevitable."

According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

A pandemic is absolutely inevitable; that is what every scientist believes," Gilchrist said.

What offers some hope, Gilchrist said, is that if it is caused by bird flu, scientists have never before known so much about a disease before a possible outbreak.

There are about 150 strains of bird flu, including H5N1, she said. It has been traced to infected chickens in Hong Kong in 1997 and has been confined mostly to Southeast Asia, though two deaths recently occurred in Turkey.

The disease could spread to Iowa, Gilchrist said, through the importation of infected birds, migration of wild birds, bioterrorism or travelers returning from an infected area.

Gary Eden, who farms land between Hills and Lone Tree, said the presentation helped him realize an outbreak would affect more than just farmers and that it could spread rapidly.

"The consequences of this, if it were to hit, would probably not be realized by the public right away," he said.