In then capital city of America health officials are mulling over how to allocate the budget that they have been given to prepare the city for a possible outbreak of H5N1 bird flu. The Tamiflu is in place and health professionals who work in hospitals have been given a fair idea of what to do when the pandemic breaks out but it seems that the group who are the least knowledgeable about the bird flu virus are the general public and they need to be educated.

Tamiflu the drug from the Swiss company Roche is obviously going to play a major role in protecting the public from the H5N1 virus but it is unable to beat the pandemic on its own and all nations and cities will require a big input from the general public if the are serious about getting in top of the problem. In Washington money has been allocated for educational brochures and television adverts to make sure that everyone knows more about the virus and what they should and should not do when it strikes. There have also been a series of meetings for the public and rehearsal and drills to practice for a bird flu outbreak.

Experts say that should the bird flu virus break out in Washington the death toll could be as high as 5,000 deaths and over a million people could be affected by the virus which would mean that the state hospitals would not be able to cope. Simple things like washing your hands regularly and staying indoors could really slow down the proliferation of the bird flu virus and are as important as drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza in stopping the virus killing people. In Washington the allocation of close to a million Tamiflu course treatments is available for the population and there are plans to increase this number in the near future.