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Source: http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0679.html
H1N1 is not the only infectious disease we should be concerned about
While influenza pandemic planning has been in the headlines, there are other disease risks which planners need to be aware of, says John Glenn.
H1N1 is the pandemic no one expected. But it should not have caught enterprise risk management and business continuity practitioners totally unprepared.
Each year the world suffers influenza epidemics. Each year hundreds die. Each year organizations lose revenue due to absence of critical resources - people.
What's different between ?normal? influenza and this iteration of H1N1 other than this one apparently originated in Mexico? Not much.
This H1N1 is teaching us lessons that belie what we thought would happen when H5N1 (avian influenza) became a threat. We were told that H5N1 would arrive in ?waves.? H1N1 proves the fallacy of that supposition.
Thanks to air travel, maladies travel internationally at the ?speed of flight.? The come at us from all directions, hopping, skipping, and jumping from place to place, often leaving intermediate points untouched - example: Spain early on had H1N1 occurrences while Portugal was spared. Why? Direct flights from Mexico to Spain. Why did New York State have H1N1 cases and Tennessee - which lies between Mexico and New York - did not? Direct flights. So much for ?waves?.
We also should have learned to - one way or another - maintain those personnel lists so carefully drafted when bird flu was in the headlines. Actually, most of us know the value of data maintenance; some of our employers fail to recognize this and fail to support it.
For all the headlines than (H1N5) and now (H1N1), I think many practitioners and managers are overlooking the real lesson.
Influenza is but one of many "*demic" threats. Consider the following:
Meningitis: Experts say preparedness for meningitis epidemics is difficult because vaccines cannot be administered until it is known which of the many different forms of the bacterium is spreading. As a result, 5-10 percent of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours, while some survivors suffer brain damage, hearing loss or learning disabilities. (http://www.bigmedicine.ca/)
At least 35 people have died in a meningitis epidemic that has hit several districts in western and north-western Uganda over the past two weeks, a health ministry official said.
"Cumulatively we have recorded 47 cases of meningitis with 13 dead in Hoima District," Paul Kaggwa, a spokesman for the ministry, said. "Another 150 cases have been reported in Arua, with 18 dead, and 14 in Masindi, with four deaths."
Cholera: The cholera death toll in Zimbabwe climbed to 3,028, the World Health Organization said on 28 January (2009). The outbreak that began in August 2008 has become the worst cholera pandemic in Africa since more than 12,000 people perished from the waterborne disease in Goma's refugee camps in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
Polio, tuberculosis in various degrees of virulence, smallpox, measles, even chickenpox continue to be threats both to un/under-developed nations and to the so-called developed nations.
The un/under-developed countries' poverty promotes transfer of the illnesses. In developed countries, the lack of on-going preventive measures, eg, vaccinations, allows diseases to gain a foothold. Smallpox was thought eradicated. Likewise measles. Wrong. Polio is unheard of since introduction of preventive medication. Wrong. TB - no more need for iron lungs since TB is a thing of the past. Wrong.
Bottom line: enterprise risk management practitioners and the people who engage their expertise need to look beyond the malady du jour; they need to consider all threats - the direct and indirect impacts those threats can have on their organization, and the ?value? of the threat : probability vs. impact. Then, in concert with management, determine what measures are appropriate to avoid or mitigate the threat and, finally, how to respond if the threat occurs.
H1N1 is a threat
However, H1N1, while making headlines, is not the only threat. Certainly practitioners should find ways now to mitigate the threat and ways to respond if it transpires; dusting off the bird flu documentation is a good start. Still, threat du jour or not, H1N1 is "just another threat" to be considered; practitioners and the people who depend upon their expertise need to continue to look at the broader picture.
Author
John Glenn, MBCI, SRP
Enterprise Risk Management/Business Continuity
H1N1 is not the only infectious disease we should be concerned about
While influenza pandemic planning has been in the headlines, there are other disease risks which planners need to be aware of, says John Glenn.
H1N1 is the pandemic no one expected. But it should not have caught enterprise risk management and business continuity practitioners totally unprepared.
Each year the world suffers influenza epidemics. Each year hundreds die. Each year organizations lose revenue due to absence of critical resources - people.
What's different between ?normal? influenza and this iteration of H1N1 other than this one apparently originated in Mexico? Not much.
This H1N1 is teaching us lessons that belie what we thought would happen when H5N1 (avian influenza) became a threat. We were told that H5N1 would arrive in ?waves.? H1N1 proves the fallacy of that supposition.
Thanks to air travel, maladies travel internationally at the ?speed of flight.? The come at us from all directions, hopping, skipping, and jumping from place to place, often leaving intermediate points untouched - example: Spain early on had H1N1 occurrences while Portugal was spared. Why? Direct flights from Mexico to Spain. Why did New York State have H1N1 cases and Tennessee - which lies between Mexico and New York - did not? Direct flights. So much for ?waves?.
We also should have learned to - one way or another - maintain those personnel lists so carefully drafted when bird flu was in the headlines. Actually, most of us know the value of data maintenance; some of our employers fail to recognize this and fail to support it.
For all the headlines than (H1N5) and now (H1N1), I think many practitioners and managers are overlooking the real lesson.
Influenza is but one of many "*demic" threats. Consider the following:
Meningitis: Experts say preparedness for meningitis epidemics is difficult because vaccines cannot be administered until it is known which of the many different forms of the bacterium is spreading. As a result, 5-10 percent of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours, while some survivors suffer brain damage, hearing loss or learning disabilities. (http://www.bigmedicine.ca/)
At least 35 people have died in a meningitis epidemic that has hit several districts in western and north-western Uganda over the past two weeks, a health ministry official said.
"Cumulatively we have recorded 47 cases of meningitis with 13 dead in Hoima District," Paul Kaggwa, a spokesman for the ministry, said. "Another 150 cases have been reported in Arua, with 18 dead, and 14 in Masindi, with four deaths."
Cholera: The cholera death toll in Zimbabwe climbed to 3,028, the World Health Organization said on 28 January (2009). The outbreak that began in August 2008 has become the worst cholera pandemic in Africa since more than 12,000 people perished from the waterborne disease in Goma's refugee camps in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
Polio, tuberculosis in various degrees of virulence, smallpox, measles, even chickenpox continue to be threats both to un/under-developed nations and to the so-called developed nations.
The un/under-developed countries' poverty promotes transfer of the illnesses. In developed countries, the lack of on-going preventive measures, eg, vaccinations, allows diseases to gain a foothold. Smallpox was thought eradicated. Likewise measles. Wrong. Polio is unheard of since introduction of preventive medication. Wrong. TB - no more need for iron lungs since TB is a thing of the past. Wrong.
Bottom line: enterprise risk management practitioners and the people who engage their expertise need to look beyond the malady du jour; they need to consider all threats - the direct and indirect impacts those threats can have on their organization, and the ?value? of the threat : probability vs. impact. Then, in concert with management, determine what measures are appropriate to avoid or mitigate the threat and, finally, how to respond if the threat occurs.
H1N1 is a threat
However, H1N1, while making headlines, is not the only threat. Certainly practitioners should find ways now to mitigate the threat and ways to respond if it transpires; dusting off the bird flu documentation is a good start. Still, threat du jour or not, H1N1 is "just another threat" to be considered; practitioners and the people who depend upon their expertise need to continue to look at the broader picture.
Author
John Glenn, MBCI, SRP
Enterprise Risk Management/Business Continuity
