This paper will address the current pandemic threat from avian and other influenza viruses, the treatments available, federal, state and local response and planning, and the policy implications should a pandemic occur. The paper concludes with some discussion about where we are and where we need to go, and some recommendations for policymakers and legislators grappling with the issue of pandemi...

BACKGROUND Current national preparedness plans require local health departments to play an integral role in responding to an influenza pandemic, a major public health threat that the World Health Organization has described as "inevitable and possibly imminent". To understand local public health workers' perceptions toward pandemic influenza response, we surveyed 308 employees at three health de...

background pandemic flu is a concerning problem with potentially high mortality and morbidity rates, so needs a proper health system response in each country. objectives to evaluate the nationwide health system response in iran after declaration of h1n1/swine flu pandemic in june 2009. patients and methods a surveillance system in all regions of country was implemented upon declaration of pande...

background recognizing the importance of having a broad exploration of how cultural perspectives may shape thinking about ethical considerations, the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) funded four regional meetings in africa, asia, latin america, and the eastern mediterranean to explore these perspectives relevant to pandemic influenza preparedness and response. the meetings were ...

Influenza is a cause of acute respiratory disease. It has a typical epidemic nature during the winter season, but may also assume a pandemic pattern when a completely new virus spreads among humans. Influenza places a heavy economic and healthcare burden on both the National Health Service and society. During the 2009/2010 influenza pandemic season, the Liguria Region drew upon the specific ski...

Pandemic influenza is one of a small number of infectious diseases that pose a significant global threat. Pandemic preparedness has accelerated around the world in recent years in response to the perceived increased risk of a pandemic developing following the emergence of H5N1 avian influenza in domestic poultry flocks in Asia, Africa and Europe. There is a hierarchy of pandemic plans - interna...

The complexities of planning for and responding to the emergence of novel influenza viruses emphasize the need for systematic frameworks to describe the progression of the event; weigh the risk of emergence and potential public health impact; evaluate transmissibility, antiviral resistance, and severity; and make decisions about interventions. On the basis of experience from recent influenza re...

Publicly available influenza modeling tools are of limited use to hospitals and local communities in planning for a severe pandemic. We developed Panalysis, a new tool to estimate the likely healthcare consequences of a pandemic and to aid hospitals in the development of mitigation and response strategies. By way of example, we demonstrate how Panalysis can be used to plan for a 1918-like flu p...

BACKGROUND Effectiveness of pandemic plans and community compliance was extensively researched following the H1N1 pandemic. This systematic review examined community response studies to determine whether behavioural responses to the pandemic were related to level of knowledge about the pandemic, perceived severity of the pandemic and level of concern about the pandemic. METHODS Literature dat...