MVMA News

Fatal Contact: You've Seen the Movie, Now Here are the Facts

• The ABC Movie “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America” is a movie, not a documentary. It is a work of fiction designed to entertain and not a factual accounting of a real world event.

• There is no influenza pandemic in the world at this time.

• Since 2003, there have been about 200 human cases of H5N1 infection, mostly in Asia; about half of those have been fatal.

• Most of the human infections can be traced to close contact with infected poultry. There have only been a few cases where human-to-human transmission is thought to have occurred. In those cases, the transmission did not continue beyond the immediate contacts of the primary case.

• The H5N1 virus has not yet appeared in the United States

• Should the H5N1 virus appear in the United States, it does not mean the start of a pandemic.

• If an influenza pandemic were to occur, it would not necessarily be as severe as depicted in the movie, or as the pandemic of 1918. For example, many Americans did not distinguish the influenza pandemics of 1957-58 and 1968-69 from seasonal influenza and were unaware that a pandemic was underway.

• While the movie does serve to raise awareness about avian and pandemic flu, we hope it will inspire preparation – not panic. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has developed an extensive set of planning documents, including planning checklists for businesses, schools, health care providers, community organizations, and states as well as an individual and family planning guide. All of these materials are available at www.pandemicflu.gov.

• For more information from the AVMA, visit www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/default.asp#avian.