by Adam Linker 

At a fall seminar on avian influenza at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, said, “Media – print, broadcast, radio – and people who work with the media are really part of the first responder community.” To train these first responders, the school brought together journalists, state officials and public health experts to discuss how the threat of avian flu should be communicated to the public.

Most of the conference speakers said their greatest fear was a public overreaction to a possible bird flu outbreak. John Hoffman, a fellow at the University of Minnesota National Center for Food Protection and Defense, said that one highly contagious bird was found in Italy and the poultry industry took a 70 percent hit. In North Carolina, he said, 20 percent of jobs are in agriculture. And, he added, the North Carolina poultry industry is worth $6.6 billion and employs 25,000 workers.

“We don’t want North Carolina to lose its poultry industry,” he said. “The effects on this state would be catastrophic.”

The most likely source of avian flu in the state is not from corporate farms, said David Marshall, state veterinarian for North Carolina. It is the backyard birds kept domestically that worries Marshall. “North Carolinians love birds,” he said.

North Carolina’s plan for responding to an outbreak is rapid diagnosis, quarantine of the infected farm and surveillance of birds nearby, Marshall said. The state also runs practice drills. “We exercise, exercise, exercise,” he said.

Donna Carver, extension veterinarian at North Carolina State University, said the public needs to be educated before an outbreak. Avian flu is not a food safety issue, she said. “If you cook your chicken to the proper temperature there is no way avian influenza can survive that,” she said.

Carver added that backyard farmers should never let anyone on their farm unless absolutely necessary.

NBC medical correspondent Helen Chickering gave tips on how to handle reporters. “In an ideal world the reporter would plow through research and find credible sources,” she said. “But that doesn’t always happen.” Deadline pressures often force journalists to use their first source instead of the best source, she said.

Chickering advised experts to call reporters or assignment editors before there is a problem and offer themselves as a source. Public health officials should also establish a media call list and run “fire drills,” she said. To help educate the public, Chickering said, officials should pitch stories. “Just make sure it’s interesting to the average Joe,” she said.

In emergencies, people will act out of stress, said W. Douglas Evans, director of the Center for Health Promotion Research at the Research Triangle Institute. Officials should make sure they tell people how to react to an avian flu outbreak, Evans said. He noted that people must think that they can do something, and their action will have an effect. Otherwise, he said, they will simply panic.

The experts agreed that some form of highly pathogenic avian flu will hit North Carolina. They also agreed that it could be contained. And participants noted that maintaining the public’s confidence is a key component of dealing with the avian flu. State Veterinarian David Marshall said, “My approach is that I respect it but I don’t fear it.” ♦

Adam Linker was graduated from the school’s master’s program in May.