Health officials advise people to get their regular influenza shots and to not feel alarmed by reports of “bird flu” in Southeast Asia.

Outbreaks of the avian flu, H5N1 virus, have been ongoing in poultry in Southeast Asia countries since 2003, and more recently in Turkey and Greece, said Dr. Roger Case, Island County Health Officer.

While reports of human illness and deaths from avian flu caught from sick birds continue in Southeast Asia, no transmission of the virus from one human to another has occurred, he said in a release.

For now, Case advises people to put fears of the H5N1 virus on the back burner and prepare for the coming flu season.

The regular flu season typically runs from December to March. The vaccine available gives protection against the three common strains of flu, he said in an interview.

No shortage of vaccine is expected this year, and it is too early to know which flu strain will dominate and its virulence. He expects the Centers for Disease Control to issue a prediction sometime in December.

Meantime, H5N1 avian flu has killed millions of domesticated and wild birds in Asia. So far, about 116 humans have caught the virus. Roughly half of them have died, Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said last week.

Right now the virus is not easily transferred between birds and humans, but if the virus mutates it may eventually pass from human to human, Winkenwerder said.

Case said the public is hearing a lot about “getting prepared” by stockpiling oseltamivir (Tamiflu) as a preventive measure.

He strongly discourages private stockpiling of the antiviral drug. The priority for prescribing Tamiflu in the coming regular flu season is to treat people at high risk of complications from influenza type A and B. Vulnerable people include those over 65, folks suffering from chronic diseases and young children.

Supplies of Tamiflu are limited in the United States, he said. The government-held stockpile is 2.3 million doses for a country with 280 million people. Hoarding the drug now could mean Tamiflu won’t be available to people who need it most during the regular flu season.

Furthermore, indiscriminate and inappropriate use of Tamiflu may promote the development and spread of resistance to this important drug among influenza viruses. Case said Tamiflu-resistant H5N1 disease was detected earlier this year in Vietnam.

Case said, “There is no vaccine for the H5N1 virus, and none will be developed specifically for the virus until it becomes transmissible human-to-human, and even then, it will be six months to a year before a suitable vaccine becomes widely available.”