The University of Wisconsin announced plans Wednesday to beef up the university's already notable influenza research capabilities.

With a $9 million initiative and 20,000 square feet of laboratory and office space at University Research Park, the new Institute for Influenza Viral Research will house facilities that will enable UW scientists to further study influenza viruses.

"Basically, this all got started because of the research that is going on [on] campus," UW Associate Dean for Research Policy William Mellon said. "Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who is a noted researcher in this area, has certainly advanced the field of [influenza virus] research. It was the impetus around him that actually spurred part of this."

According to Mellon, the plans for the institute have been in the works for about a year, and the facility will be fully operational by fall 2007, though some of the research space will be ready for use by the end of this year.

The rapid spread of the avian influenza strain H5N1 through Asia and into Eastern Europe, Mellon said, has created an urgency to bolster influenza research.

"The ability of the virus to evolve and change its genetic makeup and spread to other areas outpaces our levels of flu research," Mellon said.

Space constraints on the UW campus also inspired talk of establishing the institute among UW scientists and officials, Mellon added.

General research into various strains of the influenza virus, along with antiviral drug and vaccine development, will be conducted at the Institute for Influenza Viral Research.

Scientists will also further investigate other previous strains of influenza — namely, the 1918 pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently hold the 1918 strain, but now only allow research facilities with proper security to obtain the full set of genes for the highly lethal strain, Mellon said.

"The CDC wouldn't give out all the [1918 influenza] genes because they were afraid if it was not maintained under highly strict conditions, that maybe it could escape and obviously could cause an outbreak," Mellon said.

Now that UW's new facility will have the necessary security measures, scientists here will likely have the opportunity to further research the 1918 flu and will be able to enhance their studies of the avian flu.

More than half of the funding for the research institute has been earmarked by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, and private donations will contribute to the institute, as well as some grant money, Mellon said.

The new institute, which is slated to house about 28 faculty and staff workers, will provide much-needed laboratory and office space, Mellon added.

"Professor Kawaoka's research program has outgrown the available specialized research space," James Tracy, an associate dean of the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, said in a press release. "Moreover, the campus plans to add three new faculty positions in the area of viral vaccine research over the next couple of years."

State holds Pandemic Readiness Summit

Gov. Jim Doyle played host for a statewide Pandemic Readiness Summit Wednesday at the Madison Concourse Hotel, bringing together health officials, business owners, UW officials and community and state leaders from throughout Wisconsin.

The main objectives of the summit were to increase awareness of a potential influenza pandemic and promote the importance of planning in the case of a pandemic.

"Wisconsin is a national leader in preparing for an influenza pandemic," Doyle said in a release. "Any response to a pandemic would have to be coordinated on a statewide, national and international scale, and this summit is a great step toward ensuring that we have coordinated plans in place."

University Health Services Executive Director Kathy Poi said that because pandemic flu incidents usually run in somewhat predictable cycles, the globe will soon be due for another bout of worldwide flu, whether the avian influenza strain or not, which is why the call for having preparations in place is so important.

"The campus has a plan that is a work in progress," said Poi, who attended the summit. "This is really true for everybody in the country. … Everyone is working really hard to develop plans, and we are all working with each other to do this."

Plans are never totally complete because if a pandemic hits, officials must have flexible strategies for dealing with the situation, depending on the circumstances, Poi said. Since late November, she said, about 10 campus officials have been working on possible schemes UW might use when dealing with a pandemic or other type of crisis.

Areas on campus where high numbers of people congregate, like the dorms and lecture halls, are especially critical to consider, as those places are where the flu could spread quickly.

"Certainly, in the event of high absenteeism, both in terms of faculty and students — as a way to control further spread and be able to maintain essential operations of the campus — it might very well be wise to cancel classes for a period of time," Poi said. However, "essential operations" such as research that must be done continually on campus must also be considered.

And, according to summit participant Rhonda Kolberg, director/health officer of the Door County Public Health Department, at the peak of a pandemic flu cycle, as much as 40 percent of the workforce could be absent due to illness.

"We can plan to try to prevent this from having a catastrophic effect on the population," Kolberg said, citing a lack of preparation when the 1918 flu hit may have contributed to its devastation.

In addition, a vaccine against the avian flu has been developed, but it may take as many as three to four years before the vaccine is available to the general population, Kolberg said. As health officials estimate the avian flu could be in the general human population in about two or three years, Kolberg added, careful planning is absolutely necessary to minimize the flu's effects.

Families are encouraged to have a plan set in case of a pandemic, and Kolberg said checklists are available online through the Centers For Disease Control for businesses, families and communities.