Brace yourselves: Next H5N1 pandemic is ‘inevitable’
May 4, 2007 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
“Never before have we been as overdue but under-prepared for a recurring natural disaster as we are now for a pandemic.”
- Eric Hargan, US Acting Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Speaking in Sydney, Hargan warned Australia to prepare for an influenza disaster that can’t be prevented.
It’s like a popcorn effect – “a pop here, then there, then several, and soon eruptions all over”.
Many experts believe that another influenza epidemic is imminent, and no nation will be spared. It’s along this line of thinking that has caused Thailand to protect itself by setting up a flu-vaccine production plant. Thailand expects the plant to produce two million doses of vaccines a year.
If and when a flu pandemic strikes, what’s key to survival is containing the epidemic and have a recocery system in place that will restore the country economically and socially as soon as possible.
[sources: nationmultimedia;couriermail]
Tags: bird flu, pandemic, flu, H5N1, thailand, australia
