Corvallis firm seeks treatment; a pandemic could take local toll

By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter

Area scientists, hospitals and medical workers are preparing for an avian influenza pandemic, where the bird flu could be spread from human to human.

Even though preparations are under way, it isn’t a certainty that the virus will become a massive health crisis.

“This is a disease of birds, and unless it makes a major mutational change, it will stay a disease of birds,” said Rocky Baker, Oregon State University virology laboratory supervisor.

Still, better safe than sorry, especially with infected birds migrating from Asia to North America in June.

Two major developments to battle bird flu could come out of Corvallis.

Local pharmaceutical company AVI Biopharma is trying to create a gene-targeted influenza treatment that could be effective in tackling bird flu in humans, said Michael Hubbard, the company’s director of investor relations.

“We’re currently in animal trials,” Hubbard said.

He added that the drug was well under way before bird flu became a hot topic, because “30,000 to 40,000 Americans per year die from influenza.”

Manoj Pastey, an OSU assistant professor of biomedical science, also is working on developing a test to identify the virus in birds within 10 minutes. Farmers could use it on-site “like a pregnancy test.”

“You have to identify it as early as possible to prevent the spread of the disease,” Pastey said.

Currently, birds are shipped to OSU, where they are tested, and confirmation can take more than three days, Pastey said. The disease, meanwhile, could quickly spread and kill flocks.

The quick test also could be used on humans.

Pastey received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop such tests.

Most testing of feathered creatures for bird flu in the state will happen at OSU. Then the birds will be shipped to a national testing lab in Iowa for confirmation.

Oregon’s updated bird flu plan will be unveiled during a meeting in Portland today.

If the virus starts to spread from human to human, a third of the population of Oregon could become ill, according to the report.

Hospitals could be overloaded, and doctors could be forced to choose who gets to use breathing machines and who would likely die, the report states. In addition, there is a shortage of the only drug that currently can help treat avian influenza in humans, said Charlie Fautin, deputy administrator for the Benton County Health Department.

About 2,700 to 24,000 people could die statewide, and Benton County could see 60 to 500 deaths.

Pastey said, however, that he didn’t necessarily believe that will happen. In fact, he said, “Right now, I don’t think so. I don’t want to scare anybody. It may happen, but nobody is sure.”

The Benton County Health Department has been working with hospitals, medical clinics, OSU, school districts, businesses and emergency workers “so that we are all preparing the same way,” Fautin said.

The bulk of the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, which killed as many people as World War I, happened over four weeks.

Fautin said basic steps such as hand-washing, covering your cough and staying away from others when you feel ill can help delay transmission of bird flu.

A pandemic could happen at any time during the year, but it appears at highest risk during the typical flu season, when avian influenza could mix with a human form, Fautin said.

“The first few cases, we’ll try and box it in, we’ll try to identify it, try to keep the fire from getting started,” he added. “That’s what the national plan amounts to, the world-wide plan.”

While the virus hasn’t spread from humans to humans, people have become sick from bird flu, probably from inhaling particles from bird droppings or bird secretions.

Bird flu is not something humans can contract from eggs and chickens if people follow food-safety procedures.

Karen Black, who raises chickens and eggs at Norton Creek Farm in Blodgett, said she’s somewhat worried about bird flu, but she’s more concerned about a bad rap for her products.

“I am already getting calls from people saying, ‘Are chickens safe? Are eggs safe?’”

The Associated Press contributed to this article. Kyle Odegard can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.