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Health professionals: Think pandemic
HAMMOND: Massive flu outbreak not here, but inevitable, they say
http://nwitimes.com/articles/2006/08/30/news/lake_county/262956212de45c97862571da0014ed42.txt
http://nwitimes.com/articles/2006/08/30/news/lake_county/262956212de45c97862571da0014ed42.txt
BY SUSAN BROWN
HAMMOND | Eighty-five area people are better prepared to combat a flu pandemic when, not if, it finally arrives.
That was the aim of the town hall meetings the Indiana Department of Public Health required of local health departments earlier this year.
The Hammond Health Department sponsored its event Tuesday at the Jean Shepherd Community Center where Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. launched the 90-minute overview of how to deal with the prospect of a flu pandemic.
"We don't want to create a panic in the city of Hammond, but at the same time we want to prepare people in the city of Hammond," McDermott said.
Led by Health Officer/Administrator Dr. Rodrigo Panares, a host of health professionals defined the problem and repeatedly urged people to prepare themselves for a flu pandemic as they would for any other major disaster.
Past history with pandemic flu shows there's plenty to be concerned about, according to Dr. Maureen Panares of Purdue University.
In the 1918 outbreak, some 500,000 people died from the flu, which had the unusual characteristic of attacking young and healthy adults, unlike the outbreak in the '50s and '60s that killed tens of thousands of infants and the elderly, the more common victims, she said.
Maureen Panares described a flu pandemic as those strains that involve mutations for which there are no vaccines, which is prompting professionals to try to come up with more and improved vaccines.
Health Board President Dr. Joselito Navarro said avian flu should not be confused with a flu pandemic.
Navarro said unlike avian flu, a flu pandemic involves a new sub-type, infects humans and spreads easily. Out of 190 cases of avian flu, however, only two involved transmittance from human to human, he said. Victims are more likely to be infected from direct contact with poultry or contaminated surfaces.
Thus far, the lethal strain of avian flu does not appear to have spread to North America although a milder strain was reported in Canada, he said.
In any case, the professionals stressed taking preventative measures, such as washing hands thoroughly for 30 seconds, eating properly, not smoking tobacco and cooking food thoroughly. Once infected, however, they recommended a visit to the doctor within the first 48 hours to mitigate symptoms.
And vaccines do work, according to board member Dr. Richard Krejsa.
"Even a bad vaccine is better than no vaccine at all," he said.
he can have mine. I'll wait it out.