Pandemic flu preparation

Simple precautions can help prepare against flu germs
09/20/2006

By Jim Brock
Staff Writer
jim.brock@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE — The avian flu, known by most as bird flu, is a hot topic for media worldwide, but local residents should also be aware of the potential danger of a deadly pandemic flu.
“That is a big, big subject for us and is our priority right now,” said Vernon Goins, spokesman for the Gwinnett County Health Department. “We had a countywide pandemic flu summit back in May, where we brought in the civic and business leaders. ... (and) started discussion about how to prepare by developing a strategic plan and a tactical plan for responding to an influenza pandemic, which is a worldwide epidemic from which no community would be safe.”
With all the talk on the local, state, federal and worldwide level, protection from the potentially deadly strain at this point is simpler than one would think, Goins said.
“Get a flu shot, get all your vaccines and get healthy before this thing gets here,” he said. “Quit smoking, eat right, drink plenty of fluids, get enough rest and exercise. There is no substitute for that. Take care of your immune system.”
Pandemic flu is created when the human strain and the bird strain mutate within a mammal host, of which humans and pigs are ideal hosts, Goins said.
Goins said a comparable pandemic occurred a little less than 100 years ago with the 1918 Spanish flu that killed millions of people in its path.
Flu shots are now more important than ever because of the likelihood of pandemic flu making its way to the United States, Goins said.
Understanding the different types of flu is one of the first steps in prevention.
The first strain of flu, known as the human flu, can be prevented in many cases with a simple flu shot.
But while flu shots cannot protect against a pandemic strain or the bird flu virus, they can help safeguard the immune system and prevent human flu, which again is a component in the mutation of pandemic flu.
CDC statistics show that an average of 36,000 Americans die from the human flu every year, and 114,000 are
hospitalized.
Furthermore, upward of 60 million citizens contract the flu annually but don’t require hospitalization.
Studies show that flu spreads rapidly in the fall and winter months because people stay indoors, and germs are spread more easily in an enclosed area, be it at home, work or any indoor venue where people are in numbers.
“This epidemic could be significantly reduced if we all carried handkerchiefs or tissues and used them,” Goins said.
“All flu viruses are spread via the sneezes and coughs of humans and animals. If we practiced cough and sneeze etiquette, the cold and flu viruses could be defeated.
“These viruses depend on us sneezing and coughing on those near us. They also depend on others touching surfaces on which we’ve left droplets after sneezing and coughing.”
The bird flu, carried in the intestines of wild birds, is rarely transmitted to humans. Goins said.
Goins said transmission from bird to human can occur from a human ingesting undercooked, infected domestic poultry or handling an infected bird, but these situations are rare.
First off, the migration of infected birds from Southeast Asia that mix with birds in Alaska is one way for bird flu to spread into the U.S., Goins said.
Secondly, bird flu can be brought to the mainland U.S. through the illegal importation of fighting cocks, which are popular in both Southeast Asia and in southeastern U.S.
A third means of entry into America could be through the illegal importation of exotic birds, which could carry the bird flu. Goins said this is the way bird flu made its way to England.
“The H5N1 strain of bird flu that is making its way around the earth has not yet mutated into a virus that is easily spread from human to human,” Goins said. “It is still largely concentrated in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia. The World Health Organization and the CDC are monitoring it closely, anticipating its eventual mutation into a form easily contracted by humans.”
WHO has a six-phase table for pandemic viruses. Currently, H5N1 is only at stage three, but if the strain were to mutate and reach pandemic proportions, it could spread uncontrollably worldwide, Goins said.
“No one will be left untouched by a pandemic,” he said. “Only those who are prepared will experience its minimal effects. Those who are not prepared could be devastated.”
For more information, visit www.cdc.gov.