Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.enterprisenews.com/opinions/x349985823/OPINION-Bay-State-is-not-ready-for-the-flu
OPINION: Bay State is not ready for the flu
The Enterprise
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 06:21 AM
Few people are alive today who remember the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed up to 40 million people around the world. That?s too bad, because if more people could testify to the fear and terror that struck the United States and countless other nations, we might be better prepared for the next flu pandemic, which some experts say could hit within a decade.
It will be chaotic. Think back just a few years when there wasn?t enough flu vaccine to go around in Massachusetts and people were afraid of an epidemic that thankfully never happened. What would it be like if the troublesome bird flu virus known as H5N1 gets out of control and there isn?t enough vaccine?
There have been no infections in North America, but 28 people have died of that flu in other parts of the world, and we heard ominous testimony this week from expert Dr. Stuart Weiss, who runs a company that prepares businesses on how to deal with public health disasters.
?I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that we will have a pandemic in our lifetime ? I just can?t tell you when,? Weiss said on Beacon Hill at a hearing attended by very few legislators. The purpose of the hearing was to determine why Massachusetts is one of six states that has not stockpiled enough anti-viral drugs to head off an epidemic. Ironically, Weiss was testifying at the same time that the Legislature was just down the hall in the Statehouse working on the budget. Among the items being debated was cutting $2 million for anti-viral drugs.
Weiss has his own agenda, but he is not making up the facts and he cannot rewrite history. While the 1918 pandemic was the worst in history, there were other flu outbreaks, in 1957 and 1968, that killed several million people in Asia. Most of the stories about the bird flu killing or infecting people in recent years have come from Asia, so maybe people in Europe and North America aren?t worried. But the world is a much different place than it was in 1918 ? or in 1968, for that matter.
All it would take is a single infected person to get off an airplane in some city in the United States to begin a chain reaction of infections. Most states will be prepared for an outbreak. Massachusetts is not among those states.
The $2 million that may be cut is a needle in a multi-billion dollar budget haystack. We are not sure whether Weiss? dire warnings are justified, but we do know that $2 million is a small price to pay for ?insurance? against what could turn out to be a catastrophic chain of events.
OPINION: Bay State is not ready for the flu
The Enterprise
Posted May 09, 2008 @ 06:21 AM
Few people are alive today who remember the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed up to 40 million people around the world. That?s too bad, because if more people could testify to the fear and terror that struck the United States and countless other nations, we might be better prepared for the next flu pandemic, which some experts say could hit within a decade.
It will be chaotic. Think back just a few years when there wasn?t enough flu vaccine to go around in Massachusetts and people were afraid of an epidemic that thankfully never happened. What would it be like if the troublesome bird flu virus known as H5N1 gets out of control and there isn?t enough vaccine?
There have been no infections in North America, but 28 people have died of that flu in other parts of the world, and we heard ominous testimony this week from expert Dr. Stuart Weiss, who runs a company that prepares businesses on how to deal with public health disasters.
?I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that we will have a pandemic in our lifetime ? I just can?t tell you when,? Weiss said on Beacon Hill at a hearing attended by very few legislators. The purpose of the hearing was to determine why Massachusetts is one of six states that has not stockpiled enough anti-viral drugs to head off an epidemic. Ironically, Weiss was testifying at the same time that the Legislature was just down the hall in the Statehouse working on the budget. Among the items being debated was cutting $2 million for anti-viral drugs.
Weiss has his own agenda, but he is not making up the facts and he cannot rewrite history. While the 1918 pandemic was the worst in history, there were other flu outbreaks, in 1957 and 1968, that killed several million people in Asia. Most of the stories about the bird flu killing or infecting people in recent years have come from Asia, so maybe people in Europe and North America aren?t worried. But the world is a much different place than it was in 1918 ? or in 1968, for that matter.
All it would take is a single infected person to get off an airplane in some city in the United States to begin a chain reaction of infections. Most states will be prepared for an outbreak. Massachusetts is not among those states.
The $2 million that may be cut is a needle in a multi-billion dollar budget haystack. We are not sure whether Weiss? dire warnings are justified, but we do know that $2 million is a small price to pay for ?insurance? against what could turn out to be a catastrophic chain of events.