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Source: http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/article.asp?id=94365
Sherard: Education key in fighting pandemic flu
By Dennis E. Curran
June 13, 2008 --
MORAN ?Dr. Brent Sherard, Director of the Wyoming Dept. of Health, told doctors today that interest and attention to pandemic flu seems to wax and wane, but public health authorities still believe a widespread pandemic of a new, immune-resistant flu is inevitable.
?The question is not if it will occur, but when will it occur?? he said. Sherard told Wyoming Medical Society members that the state has spent about $1 million stockpiling anti-viral medications at strategic locations around the state, and is awaiting development of a new flu vaccine designed to prevent a pandemic flu virus when the strain actually emerges.
But he said one of the best ways to combat the flu will be to follow one of the adages from a newspaper in 1918, when the Spanish Flu pandemic was spreading across the land ? ?Go home and stay in bed until you are well.?
?Really, the one thing that?s probably going to be the most effective when we have the pandemic flu is simply good hygiene and what we call social distancing,? he said. Sherard also touted the importance of public education about pandemic flu and how to cope with it.
Sherard said the current avian flu isn?t going to trigger a pandemic, unless or until the avian flu becomes easily transmissible to humans. He said public health authorities are exploring various ways to try and contain the disease where it first occurs, but that will only be a ?stop gap measure to buy some time.?
Sherard: Education key in fighting pandemic flu
By Dennis E. Curran
June 13, 2008 --
MORAN ?Dr. Brent Sherard, Director of the Wyoming Dept. of Health, told doctors today that interest and attention to pandemic flu seems to wax and wane, but public health authorities still believe a widespread pandemic of a new, immune-resistant flu is inevitable.
?The question is not if it will occur, but when will it occur?? he said. Sherard told Wyoming Medical Society members that the state has spent about $1 million stockpiling anti-viral medications at strategic locations around the state, and is awaiting development of a new flu vaccine designed to prevent a pandemic flu virus when the strain actually emerges.
But he said one of the best ways to combat the flu will be to follow one of the adages from a newspaper in 1918, when the Spanish Flu pandemic was spreading across the land ? ?Go home and stay in bed until you are well.?
?Really, the one thing that?s probably going to be the most effective when we have the pandemic flu is simply good hygiene and what we call social distancing,? he said. Sherard also touted the importance of public education about pandemic flu and how to cope with it.
Sherard said the current avian flu isn?t going to trigger a pandemic, unless or until the avian flu becomes easily transmissible to humans. He said public health authorities are exploring various ways to try and contain the disease where it first occurs, but that will only be a ?stop gap measure to buy some time.?