#1197
No one who has been following the avian flu story should be surprised at this assessment, provided by David Nabarro of the United Nations.
Despite much hard work by dedicated professionals, the world is only slightly more prepared for a pandemic than it was two years ago. While some agencies have been very proactive in preparing, many others are doing little or nothing. And worse, the private sector is doing even less. For most small businesses and private individuals, the issue isn't even on their radar screen.
The problem is, too few people see pandemic flu as a genuine, and possibly imminent, threat. If they worry about it at all, they don't think it will happen anytime soon. That it may be a threat someday . . . .
But you wait long enough, and someday does eventually come.
Ready or not.
Not if but when, United Nations official warns
By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.Com
October 25, 2007
Despite three years of massive preparation efforts, the world is not ready to deal with a potential Avian, or “bird” flu pandemic that could kill millions of people world-wide. That’s the assessment of David Nabarro, a senior United Nations official in charge of bird flu prevention efforts.
Nabarro says most countries have made some progress on a preparedness plan, but that progress is spotty. And while some have actually been able to stockpile anti-viral vaccines, they have yet to plan for the enormous societal and economic impact a pandemic would bring.
"Unfortunately, only a relatively small number are adequately prepared to keep going in the event that the pandemic has massive absenteeism associated with it, Nabarro said. We need hard work for at least two or three years more to make sure that the whole world is properly pandemic ready.”
Not if, but when
And a bird flu pandemic is coming, says Nabarro.
To date the handful of humans who have contracted the disease have gotten the virus from infected birds. But once the deadly H5N1 virus mutates so that it is easily transmitted from one person to the next, Nabarro and other heath experts say it will spread quickly around the globe.
That’s what happened in 1918, when an animal virus mutated and began to quickly spread from person to person. Before it ran its course in 1919, the “Spanish Flu” killed an estimated 40 billion people – more than died in the just completed World War. Health experts call it the most devastating epidemic in recorded history. So far.
Nabarro says no one knows when the H5N1 virus will jump from birds to humans or how severe the resulting outbreak will be. But he says nations should be prepared for the worst, both in terms of human suffering and economic devastation.
