WHO says prepping for a bad pandemic has to be considered

[Avalux]

Whether or not you think those of us who are concerned about this emergent flu virus are silly, consider the following. Isn't it better to be prepared (certainly NOT panic) and have it turn out to be nothing, than to not be prepared and suffer a worldwide catastrophe?
________________

TORONTO — The world may not know for quite some time how the outbreak of swine flu will play out, the scientist leading the World Health Organization's response to the situation warned Friday.

And given that the future path of the virus is unknowable and the possibilities run the gamut from fizzling out to causing a global outbreak of severe disease and death, preparing is the prudent course of action, Dr. Keiji Fukuda told The Canadian Press in an interview.

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"And so if we go ahead and we spend a fair amount of time getting ready and it remains mild and not so many people die or get seriously ill from it, then we are lucky and we should just be happy," Fukuda, the WHO's acting assistant director general of health security and environment, said from Geneva.

"If on the other hand it turns very severe and we have simply stopped preparing and we haven't pushed ahead with the preparations . . . that would really be the worst of all possibilities."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j1PQOzI0HN6NoxZzXVvpgsJvklfg

[seemslikeadream]

1. prepared (certainly NOT panic)

That's it

[Avalux]

Yep. Prepare.

If you knew a hurricane was *maybe* coming to your town and didn't know the exact severity, would you prepare for it? ;)

[Hannah Bell]

2. prepared is routine procedure.

[sohndrsmith]

23. Actually, it sounds like we're better prepared than we might have been

in large part because of the national/global proactive readiness and in-place protocols which were created and put in place in response to the Avian flu. From what I understand, we can thank much of our preparedness to that concern.

[babylonsister]

3. People are prepping already! Schools closed, info coming out

on a daily if not hourly basis, alright already.

[Avalux]

5. Schools closing isn't prepping.

I find that extreme. Keeping kids out of school is worthless - as witnessed here in Texas, the kids are going to each others houses and playing together anyway.

[babylonsister]

8. I find that extreme, too. But from what I understand, the point is

to keep kids away from outside influences to lessen any further infection. There have been so many overreactions, imo, starting with the media.

I think the media is a tad annoyed that no one else has died yet.

[Avalux]

12. I agree with that.

They're eagerly awaiting that first "American" death. Disgusting.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. They'll get their wish, but here is what I had to say

bout on the media on DKOS

http://www.dailykos.com/user/nadinbrzezinski

And yes I have said as much here in the past, but this is just a summary

At least their customer base, reader, what have you, reacted better to the sharp media critique

[Avalux]

20. Thanks for sharing. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. You welcome, I really do not know what gets in the water in these parts

every time we have a complex sciency story

Actually I do...

But those facts to me were astounding

Suffice it to say, they are not trying to panic us... that be bad... your eyeballs would leave screen and cower in the corner

I know I am cynical

[frogcycle]

4. WHO says? I sez!

[patrice]

6. I work in Elder Care. I'm delighted with the seriousness of the response.

It's hard enough for people to be losing mom and dad eventually, the possibility of our parents and grandparents (Anyone, really!) being ripped away from us by an un-expected illness should NOT be regarded as routine.

[Avalux]

7. I'm glad to hear that.

Being prepared is a good thing. There's nothing worse than not being prepared and realizing there's nothing you can do.

[patrice]

11. Our county and state have been right on top of this with all health support services.

We get daily bulletins with resource links and contacts and updated information.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Good and those are yer taxes at work

:-)

[patrice]

18. I love our work. We are also very much into improving the standards of care.

[sohndrsmith]

9. Call me crazy, but WHO's Director-General, Dr. Chan, spoke as if

a pandemic is a foregone conclusion. I was surprised, actually, because it sounded rather alarmist. Maybe I'm misreading her syntax, but I got the impression she was speaking of a current pandemic rather than a "likely" one... Not that this is a cause for panic - I don't think it is.

Statement by WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan
29 April 2009:

-- "For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real-time."

-- "WHO will be tracking the pandemic at the epidemiological, clinical, and virological levels."

-- "The biggest question, right now, is this: how severe will the pandemic be, especially now at the start?"

-- "After all, it really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic."

link to full transcript of the statement:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_20090429/en/index.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Because we very technically, by the definitions of the WHO

are in one already

See here

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html

Both Level 5 and Level 6 are the pandemic level

And require member states to take specific actions to try to contain\ mitigate it

[uppityperson]

15. It is a pandemic, just not a very deadly one for now

I thought she sounded very calm and reasoned. No need to panic though, even if msm wants us to

[sohndrsmith]

22. Agreed that she sounded very calm and reasoned. But it did seem

curious that she spoke of pandemic as a current situation rather than a possible/probable one.

The msm isn't offering accurate information, unfortunately. Some of them are still reporting 150+ deaths from this virus in Mexico, when the WHO has confirmed 9-11, yet the media is markedly ignoring this. I don't get it.

We just need to be aware, accurately informed, cautious when, where and if necessary, and practice reasonable caution as warranted. Panic serves no purpose but to possibly lower one's immune system because of the stress/anxiety. Not a very useful course of action, is it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. She spoke of it in current situation

because by WHO definitions it is, I gave the link above

Also the media is speaking of probable cases, while WHO is talking of laboratory confirmed cases, which FYI are lower than what mexico is reporting

Confirmados 397 casos de influenza: Ssa
Reporta el secretario de Salud, José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, que de las personas infectadas 16 personas murieron y el resto, 381, se encuentran vivas

Confirmed, 397 cases of FLU Health and Human Services (secreataria de Salubridad Y Asistencia)

The Secreatary of Health, osé Ángel Córdova Villalobos, said that of the infected (lab confirmed) people 16 passed, and the rest, 381, are alive,


Comenta la nota Comentarios(4)
REDACCIÓN
EL UNIVERSAL
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO VIERNES 01 DE MAYO DE 2009
20:24 El secretario de Salud federal (Ssa), José Ángel Córdava Villalobos, confirmó que existen 397 casos confirmados, de los cuales hay 16 personas fallecidas y el resto, 381, se encuentran vivos.
En conferencia de prensa, Córdova Villalobos confirmó también que son el DF, Estado de México y San Luis Potosí, los zonas donde más se han reportados los casos de influenza humana (antes llamada influenza porcina)

The Secratary of the Federal Health Department (SSA, he is Sibelius counterpart), osé Ángel Córdova Villalobos confirmed that there are 397 confirmed cases, of which 16 died and the rest, 381, survived.

In a press conference osé Ángel Córdova Villalobos confirmed that the DF (Mexico City proper) The State of Mexico and San Luis Potosi, are the highest concentrations of Human New Influence (previously known as swine flu)

http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/595267.html

I hope this helps

But essentially you have probable cases and lab confirmed, the latter is the gold standard

[sohndrsmith]

25. Okay, now I'm REALLY confused... so who's numbers are

most accurate? What you've posted, the WHO's numbers, the CDC's numbers and the media's numbers are all different.

I may not have the flu but I'm at risk for a headache on this...

Why would WHO not recognize the confirmed cases from the SSA? Or am I just not understanding this adequately... (sorry)

[babylonsister]

19. I won't call you crazy. You're right. Lots of overreaction. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Ah they are ahem over reacting, yeah that's it

:-)

Having seen the very early warnings I am peachy keen the adults are taking this as seriously as they are

[Avalux]

16. Likewise.

If they weren't taking it seriously, I'd be panicking.