While a potential avian influenza outbreak is a threat to our nation and must be prepared for, I do realize that there are many other problems that exist in society today that need to be prepared for. I am not prepared to lay down exact numbers in terms of how much money should be spent on preparation, but I do think that more needs to be done that there is currently.
The fact alone that few people realize how deadly the disease is startles me as it is killing people in the eastern part of the world periodically and there is not sign of it stopping anytime soon. The fact is, that if a person contracts the disease, they pretty much have a 50-50 shot of surviving. A disease this deadly should be getting more attention than it currently is, and I think a lot of this has to do with it not affecting the population in the western world. At least, it has not done much over here yet.
If the disease would break out in America, it would probably get nonstop media attention. This could be a situation similar to the West Nile Virus outbreak of a few years ago where a disease unknown to many began killing hundreds. However the differences between the to are vast because avian influenza is so much more deadly with its high rate of fatalities. In addition, if it mutates into a transmittable form, it would be much more contagious that West Nile ever was and in turn affect many more people.
Avian influenza is a pressing issue although it may not seem as if it really is right now. If American people knew what was happening on the other side of the world and realized that it can happen over here, and possibly even worse, they would agree that the nation needs to get prepared for an outbreak. Of course this is where the communicating the risk to the public is very important and is something that needs to gain more attention by the media and government.
