In response to avian influenza (aka avian flu or bird flu), St. Luke’s University Health Network is preparing its lab for surveillance and opened an email “helpline” to answer basic questions from the public.

“While we have not had any known human cases of avian influenza in our local area, Pennsylvania or New Jersey, we have learned from past novel infectious diseases that it is prudent to be proactive in our approach,” said Jeffrey Jahre, MD, St. Luke’s senior vice president of medical and academic affairs and section chief emeritus of infectious diseases.

“We are proud of our leadership role and continue to take our responsibility to our community very seriously,” Jahre said. “We learned during COVID that we cannot wait for government agencies to ride in and save the day.”

St. Luke’s is working closely with the network’s lab and clinical providers to ensure prompt diagnosis and treatment should there be local cases of human infection of avian influenza.

In addition, the network’s Occupational Medicine department has proactively shared information with and offered assistance to the area’s extensive poultry industry.

To educate the public — always a critical step in fighting infectious diseases — the network is sharing frequently asked questions (at right) and has established the email helpline to which Lehigh Valley-area residents can direct questions to: birdfluquestions@sluhn.org.

“At this point, there is no cause for alarm,” Jahre said. “But taking some preliminary steps now will help us to assess our current situation and prepare for possible future developments.”