Word: fukuda
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...plane crossed the Pacific, Fukuda consoled himself with the fact that in six months only two cases of H5 flu had occurred. Upon his arrival, a medical officer with the Hong Kong Department of Health greeted him warmly, then gently told him of the latest discoveries. "The good news," the officer said, "is we will have a nice dinner. The bad news: there are two more cases...
This brought the total to four. Two patients had died. One was on a respirator. Fukuda, a member of the pandemic planning committee, suddenly had a glimpse of what it might be like to confront an explosive outbreak. It is one thing to plan rationally, he says. "It's another thing all of a sudden to be struck with a sense that, my God, what will happen if there are a thousand cases like this? What will happen to all of those people? How will hospitals cope? How will any of us cope...
...Fukuda's war room, Room 58 of the health department's downtown headquarters, a large whiteboard listed all the cases and tracked their medical progress. A big downward arrow meant death. With new urgency, Fukuda and the CDC hunted the sources of infection, collecting 3,000 blood samples and helping question some 2,500 people...
Then suddenly, almost as soon as it started, the second outbreak seemed to be over. The last case occurred on Dec. 28, the day the slaughter began. By late January, Fukuda's whiteboard in Room 58 showed 18 confirmed cases, with six downward arrows...
Webster and Shortridge are convinced that the avian virus is still circulating in the environment. "I don't think we're out of the woods yet," says Shortridge. Fukuda agrees: "You would be a fool to predict what the virus is going to do next. I'm equally prepared for this thing to disappear as I am to hear one day when I walk into the office, 'Oh, did you hear? There's another 10 cases--or 100 cases...