A human outbreak of bird flu in the United States could deal a $675 billion blow to the economy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday, citing a new study by the Congressional Budget Office.
Frist said the study assumed a 2.5 percent mortality rate, that 30 percent of the population would be infected and that employees would miss three weeks of work.
“A nearly $700 billion hit to our economy -- almost half of which is brought on by fear and confusion -- gives us every reason to begin preparing a prescription and implementing a course of action today,” Frist said in a statement.
The economic loss estimated by the study would amount to a 5 percent reduction in gross domestic product, he said.
Frist released the statement at a National Press Club appearance to discuss the bird flu threat.
The H5N1 avian influenza virus is spreading steadily among poultry, pushing westward out of Asia into Europe.
Health officials fear it will mutate, become easily transmitted among humans and spread rapidly around the world, killing tens of millions of people.
The virus is known to have infected just 135 people since 2003 but has killed more than half of them.
President Bush has asked Congress to allocate $7.1 billion to fund his administration’s bird flu plan, but no measure has passed.
