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U.S. health leader: World is unprepared for bird flu pandemic

Infection Control Monitor, October 7, 2005

The nation's top health official told CBS's "The Early Show" that the world is not prepared to respond to a catastrophic outbreak of bird flu, reports the Associated Press.

Mike Leavitt, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, told a national audience that global leaders are working together to protect the world from an outbreak that could kill millions.

Health officials do have a vaccine, but lack the ability to mass produce it and deliver it to the masses quickly, Leavitt said.

Leavitt's television appearance comes on the heels of President Bush's press conference earlier in the week in which he indicated that the United States may quarantine regions of the country if outbreaks of a pandemic flu occur.

Leavitt is traveling to Asia to link up with leaders of Southeast Asian countries currently at the center of the bird flu crisis.

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