Number estimates are on the very low side (when compared to the percentages we are seeing in Indonesia ), but atleast its an attempt to wake people up.
N.C. officials urge families to prepare for flu outbreak
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - If a flu pandemic strikes North Carolina, state officials don't want people going to the movies. Instead, they want them to stockpile food, medicine and water - and stay home.
The global spread of a deadly strain of avian flu prompted officials from the state and six counties to hold an exercise last week testing public health preparations for an outbreak here.
Health officials say there's no imminent threat in North Carolina. But the scenario calls for planning well in advance for a disaster that won't go away quickly.
"It's not like a hurricane, where you can see the damage, it goes away, and you can go fix it," said Dr. Steve Cline, chief of epidemiology for the state's Division of Public Health. "A pandemic - you can't see it, it comes in waves, and you have to deal with it differently."
A pandemic of Spanish flu in 1918-19 killed 20 million to 40 million people worldwide and 500,000 in the United States. Though no similar threat is on the horizon, public health officials have been on high alert since a deadly strain of bird flu appeared in Asia and infected a small number of people in Vietnam, Turkey and Indonesia.
The drill run last week, including Cline's agency, the Division of Emergency Management and officials from six counties, was based on the state's pandemic flu plan, updated in February.
It assumes an outbreak would infect 1.1 million North Carolinians, put 25,000 people in the hospital and kill 5,600.
At the start of an outbreak, the greatest problem would be the lack of medical resources to fight the virus.
Scientists would need six to nine months to develop a vaccine, Cline said. In the first wave of a pandemic - and there could be as many as three over the course of a year - hospitals would be swamped with patients.
That would tax limited supplies of existing anti-viral drugs and equipment such as respirators, forcing doctors to make hard decisions about who will and won't get treated.
"In the early stages of it, there's going to be a significant desire to have these things and an absolute inability to deliver," said Doug Hoell, director of the Division of Emergency Management.
That means, should avian flu mutate into a form readily passed between humans, health officials would have to turn to old-fashioned weapons such as quarantine and canceling public events, Cline said.
At the first sign of a pandemic, families would be asked to stock up on two weeks' worth of medicine, food and other supplies, then stay home, Hoell said.
Public health officials would also take steps to cancel concerts, close movie theaters and ask employers to let people work from home, he said.
"You've got to get people to withdraw from mass gatherings that would cause the flu to spread," Hoell said. "Families need to be self-sufficient. As you start to see a pandemic develop, there's going to be a strong push from us for people to go out and supply themselves and stay at home."
N.C. officials urge families to prepare for flu outbreak
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - If a flu pandemic strikes North Carolina, state officials don't want people going to the movies. Instead, they want them to stockpile food, medicine and water - and stay home.
The global spread of a deadly strain of avian flu prompted officials from the state and six counties to hold an exercise last week testing public health preparations for an outbreak here.
Health officials say there's no imminent threat in North Carolina. But the scenario calls for planning well in advance for a disaster that won't go away quickly.
"It's not like a hurricane, where you can see the damage, it goes away, and you can go fix it," said Dr. Steve Cline, chief of epidemiology for the state's Division of Public Health. "A pandemic - you can't see it, it comes in waves, and you have to deal with it differently."
A pandemic of Spanish flu in 1918-19 killed 20 million to 40 million people worldwide and 500,000 in the United States. Though no similar threat is on the horizon, public health officials have been on high alert since a deadly strain of bird flu appeared in Asia and infected a small number of people in Vietnam, Turkey and Indonesia.
The drill run last week, including Cline's agency, the Division of Emergency Management and officials from six counties, was based on the state's pandemic flu plan, updated in February.
It assumes an outbreak would infect 1.1 million North Carolinians, put 25,000 people in the hospital and kill 5,600.
At the start of an outbreak, the greatest problem would be the lack of medical resources to fight the virus.
Scientists would need six to nine months to develop a vaccine, Cline said. In the first wave of a pandemic - and there could be as many as three over the course of a year - hospitals would be swamped with patients.
That would tax limited supplies of existing anti-viral drugs and equipment such as respirators, forcing doctors to make hard decisions about who will and won't get treated.
"In the early stages of it, there's going to be a significant desire to have these things and an absolute inability to deliver," said Doug Hoell, director of the Division of Emergency Management.
That means, should avian flu mutate into a form readily passed between humans, health officials would have to turn to old-fashioned weapons such as quarantine and canceling public events, Cline said.
At the first sign of a pandemic, families would be asked to stock up on two weeks' worth of medicine, food and other supplies, then stay home, Hoell said.
Public health officials would also take steps to cancel concerts, close movie theaters and ask employers to let people work from home, he said.
"You've got to get people to withdraw from mass gatherings that would cause the flu to spread," Hoell said. "Families need to be self-sufficient. As you start to see a pandemic develop, there's going to be a strong push from us for people to go out and supply themselves and stay at home."
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