Bird-flu planning welcome
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Monday, December 18, 2006
A little over a year ago, newspaper headlines and TV-news shows were thick on the topic of a possible bird-flu pandemic that might kill millions worldwide. Coming soon enough on the heels of the SARS scare, the thought of a flu outbreak had lots of people looking for answers.
While the news on the topic has since subsided, the threat remains that the H5N1 virus, which has killed some poultry workers in Asia, could mutate into a form which can be passed between humans.
The worry is that it could be as virulent as the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 500,000 Americans, and between 20 million and 50 million people worldwide.
Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, now secretary of Health and Human Services for the U.S. government, has been at the forefront of this nation's preparations for a possible outbreak.
Likewise, current Gov. Jon Huntsman is responding to a recent state report on how Utah might be affected in a pandemic.
The study says as many as 1 million Utahns might be infected, and perhaps 4,000 would die. Schools might have to be closed.
And the economy could take a serious hit if large percentages of workers were home sick at any given time.
And one other thing: The Associated Press reports Utah has 4,900 hospital beds, and not quite enough staff to handle all those.
If a pandemic strikes, and worse if it surges quickly, the Beehive State's health care infrastructure could be overwhelmed.
The 37 people on Huntsman's Task Force for Influenza Preparedness, the AP explains, are attempting to devise an effective plan for response in such a dire circumstance.
Will we have enough antivirals -- not only for health care personnel and public-safety employees, but the people who will become ill? Since most people who are infected won't be able to come through hospitals, what should they do? Go to doctors' offices? Outpatient facilities? Stay home and hope for the best?
According to the Utah state epidemiologist, providing that information to people could be the most important thing the task force accomplishes.
We agree, it's better to be asking these questions and formulating the answers now, so that officials won't have to do it on the fly after a pandemic flu bug has hit.
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