The two-day conference begins Thursday and will focus on planning for, reporting and responding to any such outbreak, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

No Defense Against the Strain

An avian flu strain sweeping Asian poultry is causing experts to fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted among people. Doctors say such a mutation would be catastrophic because human immune systems have built no defense against the strain.

So far the virus has infected few people, almost all of whom are known to have contracted it from birds. At least 65 people have died, and tens of millions of birds either died or have been culled. The flu virus mutates easily, but there is no evidence that the current virus has yet mutated into a form that might pass person-to-person.

Federal Troops Might Be Dispatched

On Tuesday, President Bush suggested federal troops might be dispatched to enforce quarantines in the United States if a killer virus emerged.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky will soon travel to Southeast Asia, site of early worries about the virus, McCormack said.

In an interview Wednesday, Leavitt said the US should prepare for a potential pandemic by stocking vaccines and antivirals, among other things.

The US should be monitoring for possible outbreaks both domestically and overseas, and should begin organizing ways to communicate with the public, Leavitt told CNBC.