Birdflu Mailing List: Birdflu on TV on May 9

[Zsolt Vincze (ZVincze]

04/28  5:04p CDT Bird Flu Hitting TV Screens May 9  

Bird Flu Hitting TV Screens May 9  

 

AP Photo WX111 

By ANDREW BRIDGES=

Associated Press Writer=

   WASHINGTON (AP) _ Bodies piling up so quickly it takes dump

trucks to haul them away. Barbed wire to keep whole neighborhoods

quarantined. It's Hollywood's version of bird flu, a blur of fact

and fiction that some scientists say could confuse the public.

   ``Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America,'' an ABC

made-for-television movie, airs May 9, just as scientists are to

begin testing of wild birds in Alaska that could herald the arrival

of bird flu in North America. Scientists fear the bird flu virus

could evolve so it could be passed from human to human, sparking a

global pandemic.

   The two-hour movie plays up that notion to the fullest, with a

running ticker that tallies tens of millions of victims worldwide.

In one scene, the bodies are thrown on a pyre, like the carcasses

of cows torched in the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in

Great Britain. The producers of the movie, from the writer of

2002's ``Atomic Twister,'' bill their work as a ``thinking man's

disaster film.''

   ``We call this a plausible, worst-case scenario. This could

actually happen. It may not be this bad but it could be this bad.

The reason to portray it this way is to kind of give a wake-up call

to everyone and this is something we shouldn't ignore and we should

be as prepared as we should be,'' said Diana Kerew, one of the

movie's executive producers.

   Bird flu expert Michael Osterholm said the movie realistically

portrays the shortages of goods and services, and some of the

ensuing panic, that could occur in a pandemic. But Osterholm frets

the blurring of information and entertainment could do the public a

disservice and hopes to arrange a conference call with television

critics before the movie airs to set the record straight. He

singled out for criticism how the movie shows Virginia officials

using barbed wire to fence off and quarantine entire neighborhoods.

   ``This is too far important an issue to create further confusion

in the public's mind,'' said Osterholm, who directs the Center for

Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of

Minnesota.

   For the record, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said the

commonwealth has no plans to roll out cyclone fences and barbed

wire. ``We haven't done that since, oh, the '50s,'' joked Kevin

Hall.

   ``Fatal Contact'' begins in China, where _ in the movie _ the

bird flu virus has mutated to the point where it's being passed

human to human. It's only when an American businessman _ ``patient

zero'' _ prepares to catch a flight out of Hong Kong, after

crossing paths with an infected factory worker, that the global

pandemic really gets started. Playing supporting roles are a

wadded-up cocktail napkin, stuffed olive and an apparently

less-than-sterile martini.

   The movie suggests the Richmond, Va., businessman infects

several dozen airline passengers, who scatter around the globe.

Viewers may never accept a hot towel from a flight attendant again.

   Health officials catch on quickly, but apparently are slow to

tell the rest of us. At least two weeks pass before the president

bothers to let on that it's the 1918 flu pandemic all over again.

   That apparently didn't faze the dozen or so Department of Health

and Human Services officials who screened the film at the request

of The Associated Press.

   Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program

office, praised the movie's timeliness in raising public awareness

of bird flu, as well as its portrayal of ``a number of potentially

realistic scenarios.'' Those include the limited availability of

antiviral medicines in a pandemic, the months it could take to

develop an effective vaccine and in turn how the United States

could be dependent on other countries _ yes, that means France _ to

provide vaccine. The movie's stressing of the importance of

planning also won kudos from the department.

   ABC will broadcast the movie during sweeps, when networks often

trot out scare fare to boost the ratings that help determine local

advertising rates. The network isn't pushing ``Fatal Contact'' hard

but has played up the bona fides of the movie, which it claims was

``meticulously researched.''

   ``There's a lot of science in the movie about why this would be

scary if this were to arrive. Unfortunately, in our scenario, it is

too late to stop the spread and that is what is being predicted by

scientists if this were to occur,'' said Judith Verno, who

co-produced the movie with Kerew for Sony Pictures Television.

   The filmmakers even brought in historian John Barry, author of

the best-selling book ``The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the

Deadliest Plague in History,'' to review the script and make

suggestions. Barry, in a telephone interview, said his involvement

was much more limited than ABC has suggested. He did, however,

dissuade them from showing the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention as having its own fleet of jets.

   ``I have some problems with it,'' Barry said. ``It's certainly

not a documentary.''

      

(PROFILE

(COUNTRY:China; ISOCOUNTRY3:CHN; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:030; APGROUP:Asia;)

(COUNTRY:France; ISOCOUNTRY3:FRA; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:155; APGROUP:Europe;)

(COUNTRY:Hong Kong; ISOCOUNTRY3:HKG; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:030;
APGROUP:Asia;)

(COUNTRY:United Kingdom; ISOCOUNTRY3:GBR; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:154;
APGROUP:Europe;)

(COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021;
APGROUP:NorthAmerica;)

)

   <END>

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