WHO: Africa 'unprepared' for bird flu Africa is experiencing a rapid spread of the H5N1 virus while poorly equipped laboratories, traditional practices and bad surveillance could hamper prevention plans in the event of a pandemic, warns a WHO official (source: The Star) WHO: Africa 'unprepared' for bird flu Africa is experiencing a rapid spread of the H5N1 virus while poorly equipped laboratories, traditional practices and bad surveillance could hamper prevention plans in the event of a...

Welcome to experts' best guess of what things will be like locally if a worldwide pandemic of &#8220bird flu or some other new strain of deadly virus arrived here. With health officials generally agreeing it's a question of when, not if, such a pandemic will eventually occur, Santa Barbara County health and emergency-operations agencies staged a three-hour drill Wednesday to test their readiness to respond to such a widespread medical crisis. Marian Medical Center, like other area...