Progress made to fight bird flu but vaccine supplies inadequate

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. is making progress to combat bird flu, including development of measures to close down schools and quarantine close family members in the event of an outbreak, top health officials said Sunday.
But they warned vaccine supplies remain inadequate.
"Some things we will do include isolating people who are sick and perhaps quarantining their counterparts," Julie Gerberding, director of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
But she added: "Quarantine is a word that has a lot of bad meanings. ...I don't think any of us are thinking of draconian measures to completely quarantine a country or quarantine a community."
A strain of a bird flu that has killed more than 70 people in Asia since it first appeared two years ago has sparked concerns of a super-flu that could kill millions worldwide. Almost all the victims were in close contact with birds.
While stressing that chances remain slight, health experts have said it could lead to a global pandemic if the bird flu mutates to start spreading easily among people.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, appearing on CNN's "Late Edition," said U.S. officials expect some strain of the virus will ultimately reach the United States, but could not predict when.
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