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Source: http://www.communitypress.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1321283
Two pandemic flu forums a day keep the people away
Posted By Bill Tremblay
Posted 3 hours ago
Campbellford ? Northumberland County held two public forums Nov. 26 on pandemic influenza planning ? and no one showed up to either forum. A half-hour into the second session the presenters packed up and went home. They attributed the lack of attendance to bad weather.
Maybe it was a lack of fear. The last flu pandemic was in 1968 and the two before that were in 1957 and 1918. The latter outbreak was particularly virulent, killing between 50 and 100 million people worldwide, according to some estimates; 50,000 died from it in Canada.
The difference between the usual annual flu season and a pandemic is in the numbers of people infected. The influenza virus mutates slightly each year, and people are usually able to deal with the new strains that arrive annually. A pandemic results from a major mutation in the virus which few people have an underlying immunity to, resulting in worldwide outbreaks that tend to be severe, with often fatal results for those infected.
Dr. Richard Schabas, medical officer of health for Hastings County, is not convinced there will be an influenza pandemic any time soon. Although he acknowledged in an interview this week that one could happen, he pointed out that there have been only three occurrences in the past 90 years.
?A lot of people have been claiming to be able to predict the timing and the virus that was going to cause the pandemic and I don?t agree with that,? Schabas said.
?I?m a big fan of flu shots,? he continued, ?but the reason you get them has nothing to do with pandemics. It?s mainly because annual influenza is a serious illness that people should take seriously.?
Schabas said five to 10 per cent of people in Canada get the flu in any given year, but in a pandemic, that figure rises to 25 to 35 per cent. A pandemic influenza is not necessarily any stronger in effects than flu symptoms experienced in annual flu outbreaks, he said.
At this week's pandemic forum, Younous Manjoura, public health emergency preparedness co-ordinator with the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge Health Unit, said the sessions were being held just to outline the steps being taken to prepare for a pandemic, should one occur. The partners in the forum ? the health unit, Campbellford Memorial Hospital, the Central East Community Care Access Centre and the municipality of Trent Hills ? have been developing procedures that each would carry out in an outbreak. Their view is that preparedness can reduce the number of people who become infected and the number who die in a pandemic.
Pandemic flu spreads the same way as seasonal flu ? through droplets contained in sneezes and coughs, and by hand contact
?Education is one of the best ways people can prepare for a potential pandemic,? Manjoura said. ?It?s important for people to learn about the stages of a pandemic, how to keep themselves and their families healthy, and what type of services will be provided in their community should a pandemic occur.?
Once an influenza pandemic virus arrives in Ontario, it would likely spread quickly and many people would become ill. Manjoura estimated it could take as long as six months before widespread supplies of vaccines could be produced to fight the infections. The flu would spread in waves and much of that first six months would be spent just finding the new vaccine.
Two pandemic flu forums a day keep the people away
Posted By Bill Tremblay
Posted 3 hours ago
Campbellford ? Northumberland County held two public forums Nov. 26 on pandemic influenza planning ? and no one showed up to either forum. A half-hour into the second session the presenters packed up and went home. They attributed the lack of attendance to bad weather.
Maybe it was a lack of fear. The last flu pandemic was in 1968 and the two before that were in 1957 and 1918. The latter outbreak was particularly virulent, killing between 50 and 100 million people worldwide, according to some estimates; 50,000 died from it in Canada.
The difference between the usual annual flu season and a pandemic is in the numbers of people infected. The influenza virus mutates slightly each year, and people are usually able to deal with the new strains that arrive annually. A pandemic results from a major mutation in the virus which few people have an underlying immunity to, resulting in worldwide outbreaks that tend to be severe, with often fatal results for those infected.
Dr. Richard Schabas, medical officer of health for Hastings County, is not convinced there will be an influenza pandemic any time soon. Although he acknowledged in an interview this week that one could happen, he pointed out that there have been only three occurrences in the past 90 years.
?A lot of people have been claiming to be able to predict the timing and the virus that was going to cause the pandemic and I don?t agree with that,? Schabas said.
?I?m a big fan of flu shots,? he continued, ?but the reason you get them has nothing to do with pandemics. It?s mainly because annual influenza is a serious illness that people should take seriously.?
Schabas said five to 10 per cent of people in Canada get the flu in any given year, but in a pandemic, that figure rises to 25 to 35 per cent. A pandemic influenza is not necessarily any stronger in effects than flu symptoms experienced in annual flu outbreaks, he said.
At this week's pandemic forum, Younous Manjoura, public health emergency preparedness co-ordinator with the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge Health Unit, said the sessions were being held just to outline the steps being taken to prepare for a pandemic, should one occur. The partners in the forum ? the health unit, Campbellford Memorial Hospital, the Central East Community Care Access Centre and the municipality of Trent Hills ? have been developing procedures that each would carry out in an outbreak. Their view is that preparedness can reduce the number of people who become infected and the number who die in a pandemic.
Pandemic flu spreads the same way as seasonal flu ? through droplets contained in sneezes and coughs, and by hand contact
?Education is one of the best ways people can prepare for a potential pandemic,? Manjoura said. ?It?s important for people to learn about the stages of a pandemic, how to keep themselves and their families healthy, and what type of services will be provided in their community should a pandemic occur.?
Once an influenza pandemic virus arrives in Ontario, it would likely spread quickly and many people would become ill. Manjoura estimated it could take as long as six months before widespread supplies of vaccines could be produced to fight the infections. The flu would spread in waves and much of that first six months would be spent just finding the new vaccine.