The Senate Thursday (2005-09-29) approved spending more than $3 billion on anti-viral medications, including one intended to fight avian flu.

It remained to be seen whether the House would also approve the funding. The measure approved by the Senate -- attached to a military funding bill -- authorizes spending $3.08 billion to increase federal stockpiles of anti-viral medications. The amendment calls for spending $125 million to increase domestic production of an avian flu vaccine, but does not specify how the money will be spent.

The Bush administration signed a contract in August with Sanofi-Pasteur to begin producing initial doses of a vaccine against H5N1, the virus causing avian flu.

Public health experts in the public and private sectors have warned about the danger of an avian flu pandemic. Humans have no natural immunity to the virus, so if it spreads, it could cause widespread illness and death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta projects widespread human-to-human transmission could kill as many as 200,000 people in the United States.

Source: M&C News