Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://mdislander.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7960&Itemid=36
Pandemic planning pushes preparedness l
Written by Robert Levin
Friday, November 14, 2008
BAR HARBOR ? Public officials are continuing with efforts to prepare for a potential outbreak of pandemic flu this winter or in coming years.
The Mount Desert Island Pan Flu working group was set this week to ask the league of towns to approve initial plans for stepped-up communication procedures among area towns in the event of an outbreak or other major event.
The league of towns, made up of representatives from Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, Mount Desert, Swans Island, Cranberry Isles, Acadia National Park, Trenton and Lamoine, was slated to take up the request of the at a regular meeting in Mount Desert Wednesday. Results of the meeting were not available by press time.
?Coordinated dissemination of public information in the event of a big event, such as the pandemic flu, would simply go a long way to ensuring an effective public response,? said Mount Desert Island hospital spokesman Jeff Nichols, the chairman of the Pan Flu working group subcommittee handling communications procedures.
With the support of the league of towns, Mr. Nichols hopes to coordinate training on how to manage media and spread information efficiently in the event of an emergency. He has asked each town to designate a public information officer to work with him on communications plans.
The ability to spread information quickly and efficiently in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak is extremely important, said Doug Michael of the pan flu working group. Mr. Michael, who is the director of Healthy Acadia, said the potential for such an outbreak remains very real.
?Public health officials in the state and the nation and across the world are largely in agreement that we are overdue for a pandemic event,? he said. ?We cannot predict when it will happen, but it behooves us to be prepared.?
Since 2003, world health officials have been tracking the spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus. A growing number of human cases have been reported in Asia, Europe, and Africa, killing more than half of the people infected.
While almost all of the cases have been caused by exposure to infected birds, officials remain concerned that the H5N1 virus will mutate into a strain that is capable of human-to-human transmission, leading to a pandemic flu event. Because avian viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population.
The world?s last large pandemic flu outbreak was in 1918, killing an estimated 50 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Smaller pandemics occurred in 1957 and 1968, killing one to two million people each time.
In the event of an outbreak, officials likely would close public schools and try to keep people as isolated from each other as possible, in an attempt to curtail the spread of the virus, Mr. Michael said. People can prepare for such an event by having 10 days worth of food, water, medical supplies, and other necessities stockpiled in their homes, he said.
Pandemic planning pushes preparedness l
Written by Robert Levin
Friday, November 14, 2008
BAR HARBOR ? Public officials are continuing with efforts to prepare for a potential outbreak of pandemic flu this winter or in coming years.
The Mount Desert Island Pan Flu working group was set this week to ask the league of towns to approve initial plans for stepped-up communication procedures among area towns in the event of an outbreak or other major event.
The league of towns, made up of representatives from Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, Mount Desert, Swans Island, Cranberry Isles, Acadia National Park, Trenton and Lamoine, was slated to take up the request of the at a regular meeting in Mount Desert Wednesday. Results of the meeting were not available by press time.
?Coordinated dissemination of public information in the event of a big event, such as the pandemic flu, would simply go a long way to ensuring an effective public response,? said Mount Desert Island hospital spokesman Jeff Nichols, the chairman of the Pan Flu working group subcommittee handling communications procedures.
With the support of the league of towns, Mr. Nichols hopes to coordinate training on how to manage media and spread information efficiently in the event of an emergency. He has asked each town to designate a public information officer to work with him on communications plans.
The ability to spread information quickly and efficiently in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak is extremely important, said Doug Michael of the pan flu working group. Mr. Michael, who is the director of Healthy Acadia, said the potential for such an outbreak remains very real.
?Public health officials in the state and the nation and across the world are largely in agreement that we are overdue for a pandemic event,? he said. ?We cannot predict when it will happen, but it behooves us to be prepared.?
Since 2003, world health officials have been tracking the spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus. A growing number of human cases have been reported in Asia, Europe, and Africa, killing more than half of the people infected.
While almost all of the cases have been caused by exposure to infected birds, officials remain concerned that the H5N1 virus will mutate into a strain that is capable of human-to-human transmission, leading to a pandemic flu event. Because avian viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population.
The world?s last large pandemic flu outbreak was in 1918, killing an estimated 50 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Smaller pandemics occurred in 1957 and 1968, killing one to two million people each time.
In the event of an outbreak, officials likely would close public schools and try to keep people as isolated from each other as possible, in an attempt to curtail the spread of the virus, Mr. Michael said. People can prepare for such an event by having 10 days worth of food, water, medical supplies, and other necessities stockpiled in their homes, he said.