Kansas health officials don’t know whether the avian, or bird, flu will strike the state.

“But we are taking no chance,” Rod Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Thursday during an online chat on the Journal-World’s Web site.

“World Health Organization officials believe that the avian flu could produce the next pandemic, and because of that we are doing everything we can to minimize its impact on Kansans,” Bremby wrote during the chat.

Bremby, a Lawrence resident, responded to several questions during the chat about the avian flu, which currently cannot be passed from human to human.

However, health officials are worried that the bird flu virus, known as H5N1, will eventually mutate into a strain that could travel from person to person.

Bremby said one of KDHE’s objectives is to provide flu prevention messages to the public.

“Many of the prevention messages for ‘normal’ flu virus will be applicable for avian flu,” Bremby wrote.

“We are advising people to wash their hands frequently, cover their coughs and to practice healthy behaviors, i.e., get plenty of rest, eat healthy foods, avoid tobacco products and stay physically active.”

Rod Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, responds to questions from readers online.

Bremby said the existing bird flu strain hasn’t shown itself to be capable of easy transmission between humans.

“An experimental vaccine has been produced by the NIH (National Institutes of Health), but its effect is unknown at this time,” Bremby wrote. “We need to practice basic flu prevention messages until a vaccine is available. Anti-virals, while not able to prevent the flu, can lessen the impact of the flu.”

Bremby said he has not yet personally gotten a flu shot because he’s not a member of a high-risk group, which includes senior citizens and children.

“When vaccine becomes available, I will get my shot this year and I encourage everyone to do the same,” he wrote. “We expect most vaccine to arrive later this month and into December.”

• Chat with Rod Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (11-03-05)

Bremby said the flu season in Kansas peaks in January and flu shots received in December can still provide adequate protection.

The transcript from the chat can be found online at www.ljworld.com.