Obama consults experts on 1976 swine flu outbreak

WASHINGTON – President Obama is hoping that lessons learned from a 1976 flu outbreak can help the country act wisely to combat the current spread of swine flu.

The president and other top administration officials met Tuesday with six experts on the 1976 flu so that – in his words – “we can further prepare the nation for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of H1N1 flu.”

In 1976, a mass vaccination against a different swine flu was marred by reports of a paralyzing side effect – and that time the flu didn’t spread beyond an outbreak at Fort Dix, N.J.

Among those meeting Tuesday with Obama was the president of the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Harvey Fineberg.