[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 146 (Monday, November 7, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H9939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PANDEMIC PLAN--AVIAN INFLUENZA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, we heard the chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee come to the floor and speak about his bill 
that he has introduced to fund preparation for a possible pandemic flu 
outbreak, and I thought it might be useful to come down to the floor 
and just review some of the reasons that scientists are concerned about 
this outbreak of avian flu in the world and some of the reasons why we 
need to be concerned and some of the reasons why we need to be prepared 
and some of the good news to share as well.
  Madam Speaker, the influenza virus with which we are all familiar 
undergoes a continuous process of change. It is constantly changing its 
genetics. It drifts from one genetic makeup to another.
  For the past several years, the flu type known as H3N2 has been the 
type for which we commonly receive inoculations; and because of this 
genetic drift, a new inoculation is required each and every year.
  With the absence of a flu vaccination last year, I did not take a flu 
shot; but there is still some immunity that carries over from year to 
year; but about every 30 years, there is a major change in the genetics 
of the flu virus. These major changes took place during the last 
century in 1957 when 170,000 people in this country died from an 
outbreak of what was called Asian flu and in 1968 when 35,000 people in 
this country died from the Hong Kong flu.
  The term pandemic applies when there is a big, big animal reservoir 
of the virus and no underlying immunity, and those conditions exist 
today.
  The assumptions and the knowledge of prior pandemics certainly have 
become part of the pandemic plan that was revealed by the Department of 
Health and Human Services last week; but the important thing is the 
study of prior pandemics tells us that this virus, if it were to 
achieve pandemic status, could overwhelm almost all of the available 
resources that we would have at our disposal in this country, not to 
mention what would happen in the rest of the world.
  The virus that is under consideration for this pandemic, the so-
called H5N1 virus, has some similarities with the Spanish flu from the 
1918 pandemic. Both of these illnesses cause lower respiratory tract 
symptoms, high fever, muscle aches and pains, and extreme, extreme 
fatigue. That fatigue can persist for 6, 8, 10 weeks after recovery. If 
the patient recovers from the illness, that fatigue may persist for 
many, many weeks thereafter; and that, of course, could have 
implications for people returning to the workforce. The virus can cause 
a primary or a secondary pneumonia. The pulmonary tree is unable to 
clear itself of secretions and debris. The vast majority do recover, 
but the potential to kill is certainly related to the virulence of the 
microbe.
  Some of the trouble signs that are on the horizon, things that have 
gotten the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the chairman of 
the Committee on Appropriations concerned, some of the trouble signs 
include the wide geographic setting with involvement of not only birds 
but now other mammals. Bird-to-human transmission has occurred. It has 
not been easy for the virus to go from bird to human, but it has 
happened; and it appears in some instances, although it has not been an 
easy transmission, there has been transmission from human to human.
  If the virus undergoes that last step that allows it to have 
efficient human-to-human transition, that is what would signify the 
onset of a worldwide pandemic. It is also entirely possible, and I do 
need to stress this, that efficient human-to-human transition will 
never be developed and that the pandemic will never occur.
  So the chairman is quite right. We need to devote resources to this 
problem, but we must also recognize that the problem that we are 
concerned about today may not be the problem that we face. One of the 
very important aspects of the legislation that has been introduced by 
Chairman Lewis and legislation that will be taken up by my committee, 
the Energy and Commerce Committee, is how do we facilitate the ramp up, 
the surge capacity, the production of antiviral or the production of 
antiviral vaccines if an entirely different virus or somewhat different 
virus from this avian flu is actually the one that causes the outbreak.
  There are other antiviral medications available, medications such as 
Tamiflu and Relenza have activity against the H5N1 virus, and they are 
going to be one of our first lines of defense.
  Again, some good news is that a vaccine has been developed, and it 
was developed in a relatively short period of time. It was undergoing 
trials. It appears to be safe. One of the troubles, though, is since we 
have no underlying immunity to that virus, it takes a lot of that 
vaccination for us to develop immunity.
  Some of the things we are going to have to consider, and the chairman 
appropriately referred to these, the Federal Government will have to 
share some of the risks with companies that are manufacturing the 
vaccines. That means not only some of the liability risks but the risks 
of guaranteeing purchase of these products if they ramp up production 
and the pandemic does not materialize. Some guarantee of purchase will 
have to be there and to allow drug companies to communicate with each 
other to discuss among themselves what are some of the techniques for 
producing some of these medications. So perhaps some antitrust reform 
will have to be included in whatever our preparation and our response 
is to the flu.
  Madam Speaker, I wanted to bring these facts to the floor tonight 
because I know this is important legislation that this House will be 
considering in the next couple of weeks, and it is imperative that we 
all do have accurate and timely information.

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