Pandemic Flu Preparedness
There’s trouble brewing on at least three continents that has public health and government officials in the U.S. gravely concerned. The Avian Influenza---“bird flu”---virus has spread from wild birds to domestic fowl to people. In at least one case, it may have spread from one person to several in a family in Indonesia. More than three hundred people have died from it, about half of those who were ill. [Go here for latest information.]
Why is this seemingly distant problem a worry for us? There a several reasons.
Influenza is a deadly disease. Unfortunately it is often confused with much less harmful viral illnesses such as the common cold, intestinal viral infections and other common maladies dubbed “flu”. Influenza attacks the lungs and kills, on average, 36,000 Americans each year, in spite of both natural and vaccine-produced immunity. The annual flu virus types are generally very similar to a previous year’s, though they change just enough that new vaccine must be produced annually.
A pandemic---a world-wide epidemic---occurs when a novel (new) influenza virus genetically shifts spontaneously from more common influenza virus types and becomes one to which mankind has never been exposed and therefore has no immunity. Thus when it enters the human population it moves rapidly from person to person, causes serious illness in many and death in much greater numbers than from the annual flu. In today’s world of rapid transportation, such a virus would reach our shores in just hours to days and spread rapidly through the country in weeks.
An infected person can spread the virus for a day or two before developing symptoms. There is no and will be no immunization (“flu shot”) specific for the novel virus for a minimum of six months after the virus makes its final shift. And there is essentially no medication that will prevent or treat it. (Tamiflu® may not work and is in extremely short supply.) The only prevention will be “social distancing,” meaning staying away from all other people and from anything that anyone has recently touched.
The Avian Influenza virus type (H5N1) that has mutated into one which can pass from animals to humans has all the characteristics of the one that caused the pandemic of 1918. In that pandemic, up to 100 million people died---on a globe that had only 1.6 billion. We now number more than 6 billion; the number of deaths could be enormous. Civic infrastructure and commerce will be disrupted. Health care facilities and personnel will be overwhelmed. People will have to fend for themselves by storing water, food, medications and other essentials.
Experts agree that it’s not a question of “if” but “when” the next pandemic will occur.
Interpretive Consultations, Inc has a preparedness plan which includes giving presentations to groups who want to learn more about pandemics and personal preparedness. Please contact Doctor Rock to arrange for a presentation. Meanwhile a good start would be to link to one of the following websites to begin gathering information on what you can do to protect yourself and your family.
An unusual and non-validated site worth viewing, in my opinion: Pandemic Reference Guides
Upcoming presentations:
Past Presentations
©L.B. Sandy Rock, MD, MPH/Interpretive Consultations, Inc.