Many churches in Jasper County are now aware of the potential for a pandemic flu thanks to a packet of information mailed out last month.

Two students with the University of Missouri-Kansas City conducted a survey for the Jasper County Pandemic Planning Committee that showed many churches that received the packets were interested in the information and learning about how a possible pandemic flu event might effect their worship and normal activities.

The students, J.R. Chappell and Debbie Bridges, said they mailed surveys to more than 175 churches and received completed surveys from 38 churches.

The students said a number of churches had some kind of emergency plan and four area churches had emergency response teams already created.

"That was a surprisingly big number," Chappell said.

Tom Simpson, coordinator of the committee, said the tornadoes, ice storms and other weather events of the past few years probably triggered several churches to create response teams.

The survey also showed that most churches had not discussed a possible pandemic flu event because it was not a high priority at this time.

Committee members said a possible pandemic flu has not been in the news much recently so awareness of the need to plan for one is down.

The H5N1 strain of the avian influenza has cut a swath through south Asia's poultry and wild bird populations and has affected more than 350 people since 2003.
According to the World Health Organization, of the 371 people infected by avian influenza, 235 have died.

Currently, the H5N1 virus does not move from human to human easily, but health officials fear that as more people become infected with the virus, it might mutate into something just as deadly and more easily spread from human to human.

That could kick off the next deadly pandemic illness like the Spanish flu in 1918 and 1919 and the Hong Kong flu in the 1960s.