Preparing for a pandemic: concern over a possible avian flu pandemic is moving states, communities and the federal government to action.

State Legislatures, April, 2006 by Winterfeld, Amy

Pandemic. It's a word of horrific implications. In the past, millions of people have died from flu viruses that swept through a less populated, less well-traveled world than the one we know today. So the idea that the avian flu, a bird virus that has killed some 100 people in Asia, may be the precursor of the next pandemic has started a national dialogue about how prepared we are and where responsibility lies.

And much of it lies with the states.

"It is states and communities that will be on the front lines," says Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. "While the federal government is stockpiling antivirals, success will be determined by whether state and local officials can put pills in people's hands everywhere they are needed within a...