January 6, 2006

USDA to start new bird flu fund allocation

Within the next few weeks, the USDA will identify allocation of an additional US$91 million the department has received to fight bird flu, said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who spoke at an Avian Influenza Forum on Thursday morning.

The Kansas City meeting was the first of a four-stop tour of the state in which Johanns is speaking Thursday.

On Dec 30, 2005, the USDA received the US$91 million additional funding for the bird flu prevention effort. Johanns had earlier said that US$73 million of the US$91 million would be allocated toward domestic preparation efforts and that US$18 would be used to help other countries combat the disease.

US Senator Jim Talent, R-Mo., who is accompanying Johanns across the state Thursday, said in a question-and-answer session with reporters following the Forum meeting that he expects some of the additional funding will go to the states' Agriculture Departments to assist with local surveillance efforts.

The expansion of cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in Asia and parts of Europe is cause for intensified surveillance in the US and to prepare for the possibility that the deadly form of the virus could make its way into the country.

Johanns said there is "a very low probability" from a historic perspective that cases of the highly pathogenic form of bird flu will occur in the US. However, with the spread of the disease in other areas of the world, the US must be prepared for that eventuality, he said. "There is more HP (highly pathogenic) avian influenza in the world now than ever before."