Bird Flu Likely in U.S. This Year, Says Government

WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials said Monday it was "increasingly likely" that bird flu would be detected in the United States as early as this year but added it would not mean the start of a human pandemic.

Speaking to reporters, Interior Secretary Gail Norton, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt unveiled a plan to increase monitoring of migratory birds that are likely to bring the bird flu virus to U.S. shores.

Norton said the early detection plan would prioritize sampling in Alaska and the Pacific islands, where scientists believe the strain of highly pathogenic H5N1 virus currently affecting Southeast Asia would most likely arrive.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has spread across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and killed at least 98 people worldwide since 2003.

Norton said she anticipated initial, so-called "presumptive" H5N1 results could be announced some 20 to 100 times this year but those first tests would not tell whether the virus was high or low pathogen.

Discovery of bird flu in the United States will not be reason to panic, Johanns said, noting that positive test results could turn out to be a harmless version of the virus.

Should U.S. domestic poultry become infected, the Agriculture Department would "act quickly" to quarantine an affected area and destroy the infected flock, he said. Poultry farmers would be compensated for their loss, he added.

Although hard to catch, people can contract bird flu by coming into contact with infected birds. Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that could pass easily between humans, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.