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NEW YORK, May 22, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- New York City health officials have begun creating a crisis plan for the possibility of a deadly new flu strain reaching the city.
Health Department experts have been meeting every two weeks to prepare a strategy for protecting the city against diseases such as the Asian bird flu, or H5N1, which scientists have warned could mutate into a global pandemic, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.
The plan, expected to be completed before flu season starts later this year, addresses how to handle quarantines, test virus samples for new strains, cope with overcrowded hospitals and ration lifesaving vaccines and other treatments.
"This is clearly an issue that we're concerned about," said Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, the city's deputy commissioner of disease control.
A bird-flu vaccine has been in clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health, but if an epidemic broke out, large-scale vaccine production would take at least six months.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
