Health Department News
Local Health Workers Prepare for Pandemic Influenza
As reports of an emerging strain of avian influenza (bird flu) prompt concern about a possible global outbreak of human disease, local health officials are preparing to face the challenges of a pandemic and lessen its effects on Western U.P. residents and communities.
Western U.P. District Health Department Medical Director Gail Shebuski, M.D. said local public health and hospital planners are developing and exercising coordinated plans to respond to flu outbreaks and other public health emergencies, but no one knows when the next pandemic will strike or how severe it will be. During the flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, Shebuski said, illness and fatality rates were similar to rates for normal seasonal influenza, but in 1918-19, the rates of infection and death were much higher.
“The specter of avian flu has driven us to improve and refine our plans for mitigating any disease outbreak or other health emergency,” Shebuski said, “which enhances local preparedness.”
Shebuski hastened to add that recent scientific studies suggest that the H5N1 virus will have to undergo several major mutations before it could cause a human-to-human pandemic.
Shebuski provided the following information about pandemic influenza, the H5N1 avian influenza virus, and local efforts to prepare for possible disease outbreaks.
What is PandemicFlu?
A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. A flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges for which people have little or no immunity, and for which there is no vaccine. The disease spreads easily person-to-person, causes serious illness, and can sweep around the world in very short time.
It is difficult to predict when the next influenza pandemic will occur or how severe it will be. Wherever and whenever a pandemic starts, everyone around the world is at risk. Countries might, through measures such as border closures and travel restrictions, delay arrival of the virus, but cannot stop it.
Health professionals are concerned that the continued spread of a highly pathogenic avian H5N1 virus across eastern Asia and other countries represents a significant threat to human health. The H5N1 virus has raised concerns about a potential human pandemic because:
- It is especially virulent
- It is being spread by migratory birds
- It can be transmitted from birds to mammals and in some limited circumstances to humans, and…
- Like other influenza viruses, it continues to evolve.
Since 2003, a growing number of human H5N1 cases have been reported in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. More than half of the known people infected with the H5N1 virus have died. Most of these cases are believed to have been caused by exposure to infected poultry. To date there has been no documented human-to-human transmission of the disease, but the concern is that H5N1 will evolve into a virus capable of human-to-human transmission.
It is important to note, Shebuski stressed, that the number of human deaths from this emerging disease, less than 200 worldwide since 1997, is very small compared to the average of 36,000 Americans who die each winter from normal seasonal influenza, or the 2.2 million young children worldwide who will die this year from diarrheal diseases.
When Will The Next Pandemic Strike?
Experts say it is impossible to predict when the next pandemic will strike, or how severe it will be. Three worldwide influenza outbreaks occurred in the last century. Each differed from the others with respect to virus type and disease severity. They did not occur at regular intervals. Health officials and researchers monitor disease outbreaks among humans and animals as a means of surveillance for the next pandemic.
Although it is impossible to predict the severity of the next pandemic, it is important for health care providers and communities to prepare for significant impacts. An especially severe influenza pandemic could lead to high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery. Public health departments and hospitals will be put to the test.
What Can Be Done to Prepare?
International, federal, state and local health officials are developing response plans for the next pandemic influenza, including the following measures:
- The World Health Organization (WHO) monitors the spread of avian influenza and human disease.
- In this country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is implementing a national pandemic flu plan, buying stockpiles of antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu, and investing in vaccine research and development.
- The Michigan Department of Community Health is coordinating planning and response among state’s health departments, laboratories, hospitals, physicians and pharmacists.
- Local health departments are developing plans for mass distribution of medications or vaccine, as well as stepped up disease surveillance and control measures.
- Hospitals are improving infection control procedures and planning for continuity of operations in the event of a surge in patients.
The Health Department has stepped up emergency planning over the last four years, according to agency Health Officer/Administrator Guy St. Germain. “Pandemic influenza planning is another step in the process of enhancing public health preparedness,” St. Germain said. “Whether it’s avian flu or some other large-scale health threat, the planning and collaborating we do now will help us protect public health in the future.”
For more information on Pandemic Influenza, visit the government’s information page, http://www.pandemicflu.gov/general/faq.html.
For more information on the made for TV move “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America” visit: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/news/birdfluinam