Pandemic Influenza
Pandemic Influenza is a bit of a scary term. It describes the situation that is the result of the spread geographically of a novel influenza virus strain around the globe. It is a geoographic descriptor and does not attempt to describe the severity of any particular disease. We have had a number of pandemics in the last century. The most notable was the 1918 pandemic Spanish Flu (it origninated at an Army Post in Kansas) which kill over 50 million people world wide and about 675,000 in the U.S. This was a pandemic with significant mortality and the most notable influenza outbreak in history. In 1957 we experienced a pandemic called "Asian Flu" that killed 2 million globally and 70,000 in the U.S. In 1968 we had the "Hong Kong Flu" that killed 1 million people globally and 34,000 in the US. Then there was a "Swine Flu" scare in 1976 that failed to meet pandemic definations but was identified at Fort Dix New Jersey. It never spread much further and never really became a threat, but millions were vaccinated against it.
The greatest concern of researchers and epidemiologists is a strain of an avian flu identified as H5N1. It is currently wide spead in birds particularly in Asia. It has been spreading amonst the global wild bird populaton but has not been found in the U.S. wild bird population with any virulence. Humans have contracted the disease from birds and the mortality has be significantly high. There have been no confirmed cases of human to human transmission N5N1 avian flu. This virus mutates, and researchers believe that at some point it will mutate to the point that it will pass from Human to Human presenting the potential of a very verulent and deadly pandemic approaching the proportions of the 1918 Spanish Flu. This is the situation that most public health experts fear the most.
Most recently we have seen a new Influenza virus called H1N1 2009 Swine. This virus was discovered in Mexico in the April time frame and spread to the United States. Because the initial mortality reports out of Mexico were quite high and the virus had never been seen in its identified form, the medical researchers at the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta sent out all the warnings. It has now been declared a pandemic; however, the mortality reports out of Mexico were wrong and the death rate so far is very low. So far there have been 44,000 cases world wide with 180 deaths, 21,000 cases in the U.S. with 87 Deaths, 2500 cases in Texas with 10 deaths, and 45 cases in Fort Bend County with no deaths reported. It may still become more serious threat from a severity stand point in the fall when the flu season returns, but right now it appears to be less severe than the Influenza A, seasonal flu. Not that seasonal flu is something to be ignored. It kills 36,000 americans each year. There is a vaccine being developed for the new flu strain H1N1 and it should be available in the Fall; however amounts of the vaccine that will be available are yet to be determined and distribution schemes have not yet been developed.
Pandemics are defined as geograpic spread and incident not virulance. This is a Pandemic but not yet the extraordinary killer we fear. The City of Weston Lakes, the Fort Bend County Health and Human Services
Department, the Texas Department of State Health Services, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will all be watching the developments in the Southern Hemisphere and the in the U.S. as the Fall flu season begins to determine if this flu will have the virulence that will cause the disruption of our society as some have in the past. Click on the links below for additional information about the flu and the individaul and familiy actions that can be taken.
Novel H1N1 Flu
Pandemic Influenza Planning - A Guide for Individuals and Families
Pandemic Check List