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tsukikageOkay, this is scary.
World unprepared for next influenza pandemic: health experts
Melissa Lee, Star Tribune
June 16, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The world is ill-prepared for an overdue influenza pandemic that threatens to kill millions and shut down the global economy, a panel of health experts said Thursday.
University of Minnesota public health professor Michael Osterholm joined other panelists, including a top-ranked official from the National Institutes of Health, in urging the government to start developing plans for how to deal with the next strain of flu virus.
"Make no mistake about it: Of all the infectious diseases influenza is the lion king," Osterholm said. "I don't know what else to say except, 'We're screwed.'"
Avian bird flu already has killed chickens in Southeast Asia, and panelists warned the virus could be poised to jump to humans in the next several years.
They couldn't predict exactly when a pandemic might strike, but they did say it would be disastrous if governments around the world don't ratchet up research and preparedness efforts immediately.
"This is not going to go away," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"Get rid of the 'if.' This is going to occur."
Here in the United States, Osterholm said, the government must have specific plans in place should the virus hit. For example, it must know whether schools would close, how hospitals would handle an overflow of patients and whether planes and subways would be shut down.
It also must be prepared to deal with a total collapse of the global economy, which Americans depend on for day-to-day life, he said.
The most recent flu pandemic happened in 1918, when 30 million to 40 million people died worldwide.
That cycle could be beginning again, as the new flu strain in Asia has proved 100 percent lethal in chickens, said Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Given the amount of contact between humans and chickens there, health experts are "very nervous" about the virus spreading, Garrett said.
No humans are immune to the new strain, she said, and scientists have yet to develop a cost-effective vaccine that could be distributed worldwide.
Because the flu spreads rapidly and has historically proven so deadly, governments must act now, Fauci said.
"It's got to be a global effort to change the ingredients," he said.
Are they talking about a plague, here? When this happens, is everyone going to see someone close to them die? Kowai, kowai.
World unprepared for next influenza pandemic: health experts
Melissa Lee, Star Tribune
June 16, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The world is ill-prepared for an overdue influenza pandemic that threatens to kill millions and shut down the global economy, a panel of health experts said Thursday.
University of Minnesota public health professor Michael Osterholm joined other panelists, including a top-ranked official from the National Institutes of Health, in urging the government to start developing plans for how to deal with the next strain of flu virus.
"Make no mistake about it: Of all the infectious diseases influenza is the lion king," Osterholm said. "I don't know what else to say except, 'We're screwed.'"
Avian bird flu already has killed chickens in Southeast Asia, and panelists warned the virus could be poised to jump to humans in the next several years.
They couldn't predict exactly when a pandemic might strike, but they did say it would be disastrous if governments around the world don't ratchet up research and preparedness efforts immediately.
"This is not going to go away," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"Get rid of the 'if.' This is going to occur."
Here in the United States, Osterholm said, the government must have specific plans in place should the virus hit. For example, it must know whether schools would close, how hospitals would handle an overflow of patients and whether planes and subways would be shut down.
It also must be prepared to deal with a total collapse of the global economy, which Americans depend on for day-to-day life, he said.
The most recent flu pandemic happened in 1918, when 30 million to 40 million people died worldwide.
That cycle could be beginning again, as the new flu strain in Asia has proved 100 percent lethal in chickens, said Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Given the amount of contact between humans and chickens there, health experts are "very nervous" about the virus spreading, Garrett said.
No humans are immune to the new strain, she said, and scientists have yet to develop a cost-effective vaccine that could be distributed worldwide.
Because the flu spreads rapidly and has historically proven so deadly, governments must act now, Fauci said.
"It's got to be a global effort to change the ingredients," he said.
Are they talking about a plague, here? When this happens, is everyone going to see someone close to them die? Kowai, kowai.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-17 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-16 10:39 pm (UTC)I don't know how many pandemics it's going to take before people wise up and stop squirting out a ton of kids (this is coming from someone who doesn't particularly want kids for the aforementioned reasons, but gets told endlessly that life is not worth living without having kids, ugh how frustrating).
Sorry for the rant :/
no subject
Date: 2005-06-17 08:31 pm (UTC)(Stupid people having twelve children...)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-18 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-18 10:37 am (UTC)