* As fear of flu subsides, CDC concerned about
complacency
* CDC officials worried H1N1 could return in the
fall
By Matthew Bigg
ATLANTA, May 6 (Reuters) - The U. S. public could
become more vulnerable to a flu pandemic if complacency
about the need for heightened vigilance sets in, health
experts said on Wednesday.
Those concerns would escalate if the H1N1 virus that
has killed two people in the United States and made 642
others sick mutates into a more virulent form by the
start of the traditional flu season in the fall.
In all, there are 1,516 confirmed cases of the swine
flu virus in 22 countries, according to the U. N. World
Health Organization.
But in the United States fear about flu appears to have
subsided since the epidemic came to public attention
more than two weeks ago because many cases appear to be
mild.
"The risk of complacency, or a sense that we have
weathered this, is a serious one," said Stephen Redd,
director of Influenza Coordination at the U. S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
"What we are going to be looking very hard at over the
months to come is what's happening in other parts of
the world and really trying to understand whether we
would be at risk for a resurgence in the fall," Redd
said.
CDC officials say they walk a fine line between ramping
up public warnings to encourage people to take
precautions such as washing hands while not adopting an
alarmist posture that could risk their authority as the
epidemic persists.
In one small sign of waning public interest in the flu
threat, nationally syndicated talk show host Neal
Boortz told his audience recently that the issue of flu
was getting "really overblown."
New York has seen 97 cases of H1N1 flu, though most
have been mild, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was
aware of the need to calibrate warnings to the
public.
"There is always that danger (of crying wolf)," said
Bloomberg in an interview. "There is always the danger
of over-reacting (but) government has the
responsibility to tell people what's going on and what
to do about it."
"When I start talking in New York about disease ... the
first thing I say is: 'I'm going to tell you what we
know and what we don't know. And I'm not going to
speculate on anything between," Bloomberg said.
NEW STRAINS
The CDC has spent years preparing for a pandemic and
ranks communicating with the public on an equal footing
with studying potential viruses and finding
vaccines.
Dozens of scientists and public health specialists work
amid a low volume of chatter at its 24/7 Emergency
Operation Center, which is equipped with computer
monitors, table lamps and hand sanitizer.
Teams of scientists collate and analyze data while
others provide input on subjects ranging from ethics to
policy to how to deal with the media.
The room is dominated by a series of flat-screen
televisions set on one wall, each showing a critical
piece of information and one tuned to CNN.
Elsewhere at the CDC, researchers are monitoring the
virus to see if it could mutate into a more deadly
strain.
They are conscious of a historic parallel -- in 1918, a
relatively mild flu pandemic emerged, only to return
with a vengeance months later to kill millions.
