By ANITA MUNSON
South Bend Tribune

PLYMOUTH, Ind. — Efforts continued Wednesday to make sure officials in Marshall, St. Joseph, Pulaski, Fulton and Elkhart counties are ready if and when a pandemic flu hits Michiana.

Officials from the Marshall County Health Department and local hospital, security, American Red Cross, animal health and elsewhere gathered Wednesday afternoon to participate via telephone with the other counties in a pandemic flu tabletop exercise.

Each group worked through modules provided by the Purdue Homeland Security Institute to test area preparedness. The three-hour exercise discussed roles and responsibilities, how local plans reflect the means to administer limited amounts of vaccine and to list issues that could include a medical surge capacity, alternative care sites and home care for those infected.

Ed Gutwein, an independent contractor working with the White County Health Department, served as facilitator for the exercise. Gutwein noted that 372 cases of bird flu have been laboratory-confirmed in humans around the world at this point. Of those, 235 deaths have occurred.

Gutwein also affirmed there has been no evidence of a sustained human-to-human transmission of the disease that has infected wild birds and poultry, primarily in Asia and the Far East.

Copyright 2008 South Bend Tribune Corporation