TheFluMaster
Resident
Arizona has pandemic plan, but gaps remain in preparations
PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona has a detailed plan to direct the state's response to a possible flu pandemic but major gaps remain in preparations for what could be a deadly scourge.
A public health advocacy group's nationwide evaluation placed Arizona in the bottom tier of states according to key preparedness measures, and those findings largely track assessments provided by key government officials in the state.
The Washington, D.C.-based Trust for America's Health credited Arizona with stable or increased funding for public health services and having surveillance systems to spot outbreaks.
However, the group's report also said Arizona falls short in areas such as pneumonia vaccination rates for seniors, hospital surge capacity and availability of nurses.
Super-strains of the easy-to-mutate influenza virus cause worldwide outbreaks every few decades or so, three in the last century. The worst was the 1918 pandemic that killed about 50 million people worldwide, 500,000 in the U.S. alone. If a 1918-style pandemic struck today, up to a third of the population could fall ill and 1.9 million Americans could die.
With another pandemic overdue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began telling states to prepare years ago, plans that have taken on greater urgency with the simmering H5N1 bird flu. In 2004, just 29 states had pandemic plans of some sort. Today, all have at least a draft on paper.
Arizona health officials acknowledged in recent interviews with The Associated Press that plenty remains to be done here.
??We're leaps and bounds ahead of where we were three years ago but we're still not ready,'' said Will Humble, a deputy assistant director of the state Department of Health Services who oversees public health preparedness statewide.
Humble said the brunt of the work falls on county governments.
http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2006/12/17/news/state/state4.txt
PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona has a detailed plan to direct the state's response to a possible flu pandemic but major gaps remain in preparations for what could be a deadly scourge.
A public health advocacy group's nationwide evaluation placed Arizona in the bottom tier of states according to key preparedness measures, and those findings largely track assessments provided by key government officials in the state.
The Washington, D.C.-based Trust for America's Health credited Arizona with stable or increased funding for public health services and having surveillance systems to spot outbreaks.
However, the group's report also said Arizona falls short in areas such as pneumonia vaccination rates for seniors, hospital surge capacity and availability of nurses.
Super-strains of the easy-to-mutate influenza virus cause worldwide outbreaks every few decades or so, three in the last century. The worst was the 1918 pandemic that killed about 50 million people worldwide, 500,000 in the U.S. alone. If a 1918-style pandemic struck today, up to a third of the population could fall ill and 1.9 million Americans could die.
With another pandemic overdue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began telling states to prepare years ago, plans that have taken on greater urgency with the simmering H5N1 bird flu. In 2004, just 29 states had pandemic plans of some sort. Today, all have at least a draft on paper.
Arizona health officials acknowledged in recent interviews with The Associated Press that plenty remains to be done here.
??We're leaps and bounds ahead of where we were three years ago but we're still not ready,'' said Will Humble, a deputy assistant director of the state Department of Health Services who oversees public health preparedness statewide.
Humble said the brunt of the work falls on county governments.
http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2006/12/17/news/state/state4.txt