tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Professor Lindsey Davies, national director of pandemic influenza preparedness, looks at how the UK dealt with the H1 N1 swine flu crisis
The world is currently in the grip of a pandemic of H1 N1 swine flu. Worldwide, many thousands of people have died. In the UK, the worst now seems to be over. Although large numbers of people here have been affected, relatively few have needed hospital care and there have been far fewer deaths than in previous pandemics. Many organisations have devoted significant resources over the past few years to pandemic preparations and, not surprisingly, some are now wondering whether it was all worthwhile.
What are pandemics and why should we worry about them? A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic caused by a new virus that people are not immune to. Influenza is the most common cause and can be devastating: Spanish flu, for example, killed 40 to 50 million people worldwide in 1918-19 and Asian flu in 1957 and Hong Kong flu in 1 968 killed around two million and one million people respectively. We cannot know in advance when or where a pandemic will start, or the precise nature of the virus. But we do know that a pandemic can have a huge impact on health and the economy. A rapid response is crucial and early decisions have to be taken in the face of some uncertainty, as the science required to understand the virus takes time.
In late April 2009, an outbreak of a novel influenza was noticed in Mexico. On Saturday 25 April, I was helping a friend choose a wedding dress as the seriousness of the situation became clear. That evening I was back in my office with my team, putting the first steps of the UK response in place.
The UK had been preparing for some time. In November 2007 we published a cross-government national framework for responding to an influenza pandemic. It was shaped by the best available evidence and expert, independent scientific advice. The assumptions in the framework were broad, to encompass a wide range of eventualities.
Our aim was, and still is, to ensure that the UK is prepared to limit the spread of a pandemic and to minimise health, economic and social harm as far as possible.
When swine flu emerged, our first response was to slow the spread of the disease ? treating cases, collecting data, tracing close contacts and offering prophylaxis, closing schools where there were major outbreaks and initiating a major public health campaign.
In July we moved into the treatment phase with antiviral drugs offered to people with symptoms and the launch of the National Pandemic Flu Service, a ground-breaking online and phone self-care service for people to check symptoms and access advice and treatment.
From 21 October we were able to start vaccinating people in the highest risk groups, the first time in history we have been able to vaccinate people during a pandemic. Thankfully, for most people the disease causing this pandemic was generally mild. But it was a killer for some and without the vaccine and rapid access to the right treatment many more could have been seriously affected.
Now that we have passed the height of the pandemic, what next? The swine flu pandemic has provided a huge amount of new information and understanding. The lessons learned are relevant not only to future pandemics but also to many other emergencies. The attention paid to making business continuity plans real and implementable is already bearing dividends; and improved awareness of the importance of hand- washing and of using tissues to catch coughs and sneezes in tissues should reduce the spread of many diseases, this year and every year.
This pandemic does not make another one any less likely. For example, avian influenza H5N1 (bird flu) is still causing human disease in some parts of the world and a high proportion of those affected die. So far, it does not seem able to spread easily between humans, but it could evolve to do so and, if it did, its impact in the UK and elsewhere could be huge.
We must continue to plan and prepare for a wide range of eventualities. The answer to the question "Why bother?" is simple: many lives and many businesses depend on it.
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=13792
The world is currently in the grip of a pandemic of H1 N1 swine flu. Worldwide, many thousands of people have died. In the UK, the worst now seems to be over. Although large numbers of people here have been affected, relatively few have needed hospital care and there have been far fewer deaths than in previous pandemics. Many organisations have devoted significant resources over the past few years to pandemic preparations and, not surprisingly, some are now wondering whether it was all worthwhile.
What are pandemics and why should we worry about them? A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic caused by a new virus that people are not immune to. Influenza is the most common cause and can be devastating: Spanish flu, for example, killed 40 to 50 million people worldwide in 1918-19 and Asian flu in 1957 and Hong Kong flu in 1 968 killed around two million and one million people respectively. We cannot know in advance when or where a pandemic will start, or the precise nature of the virus. But we do know that a pandemic can have a huge impact on health and the economy. A rapid response is crucial and early decisions have to be taken in the face of some uncertainty, as the science required to understand the virus takes time.
In late April 2009, an outbreak of a novel influenza was noticed in Mexico. On Saturday 25 April, I was helping a friend choose a wedding dress as the seriousness of the situation became clear. That evening I was back in my office with my team, putting the first steps of the UK response in place.
The UK had been preparing for some time. In November 2007 we published a cross-government national framework for responding to an influenza pandemic. It was shaped by the best available evidence and expert, independent scientific advice. The assumptions in the framework were broad, to encompass a wide range of eventualities.
Our aim was, and still is, to ensure that the UK is prepared to limit the spread of a pandemic and to minimise health, economic and social harm as far as possible.
When swine flu emerged, our first response was to slow the spread of the disease ? treating cases, collecting data, tracing close contacts and offering prophylaxis, closing schools where there were major outbreaks and initiating a major public health campaign.
In July we moved into the treatment phase with antiviral drugs offered to people with symptoms and the launch of the National Pandemic Flu Service, a ground-breaking online and phone self-care service for people to check symptoms and access advice and treatment.
From 21 October we were able to start vaccinating people in the highest risk groups, the first time in history we have been able to vaccinate people during a pandemic. Thankfully, for most people the disease causing this pandemic was generally mild. But it was a killer for some and without the vaccine and rapid access to the right treatment many more could have been seriously affected.
Now that we have passed the height of the pandemic, what next? The swine flu pandemic has provided a huge amount of new information and understanding. The lessons learned are relevant not only to future pandemics but also to many other emergencies. The attention paid to making business continuity plans real and implementable is already bearing dividends; and improved awareness of the importance of hand- washing and of using tissues to catch coughs and sneezes in tissues should reduce the spread of many diseases, this year and every year.
This pandemic does not make another one any less likely. For example, avian influenza H5N1 (bird flu) is still causing human disease in some parts of the world and a high proportion of those affected die. So far, it does not seem able to spread easily between humans, but it could evolve to do so and, if it did, its impact in the UK and elsewhere could be huge.
We must continue to plan and prepare for a wide range of eventualities. The answer to the question "Why bother?" is simple: many lives and many businesses depend on it.
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=13792