"We don't want to panic the public," said Dr. Gregory Gray of the University of Iowa. "We need to let the public know what to do if it (an outbreak) occurs. Get vaccinated. Practice good hygiene measures, such as hand washing with soap. Don't go to work if you're sick because you could spread the virus to other workers."

Council Bluffs Health Director Donn Dierks agreed.

"Good hygiene practices - that's the best thing we can do," he said.

On his desk, Dierks has a bottle of hand sanitizer and said people should use that to help minimize the flu. Parents should also have their kids take sanitizer to school with them, he said.

A flu shot would minimize the effects of a potentially dangerous virus even if the vaccine had been prepared for another strain, he said.

Gray was in Council Bluffs this past week to discuss the concerns about Avian, or bird, flu, which has already killed about 60 people in Southeast Asia and has been found in birds, including poultry, in Europe.

What makes this strain particularly unique is that swine in Southeast Asia have also been infected, Gray said. That could obviously cause concerns in Iowa because of the many large hog operations here.

It's important, therefore, that people who work around swine become better educated about this virus, compared to farmers in Southeast Asia who had little information about the dangers. Those who work with swine should certainly practice good hygiene measures, including the practice of wearing gloves when handling swine, Gray said.

There must also be a "priority access to vaccine" to these workers, he said.

Dierks said the federal government is spending money to get pharmaceutical companies working on a vaccine to deal with bird flu, though it can take nine to 10 months to develop one. That's why it's so important to use good hygiene measures, he said.

"Good hygiene," Dierks said. "We need to take that to heart."