Due to the interconnectedness of the world today and the ease with which infectious diseases can spread globally, collaboration within and among countries around the world on pandemic planning and response is immensely important. One of the fi rst steps for pandemic planning involves identifying existing gaps in a nation's current plans, and examining previous outbreaks for lessons learned. To ...

Influenza infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) is believed to play an important role in the recognition of, and response to, influenza virus and other RNA viruses. Our study focuses on the hypothesis that pandemic H1N1/09 influenza virus alters the influenza-induced proinflammatory response and suppresses host antiviral activity. We first...

Virtually all health care operations, including public health, are undertaken only at a local or regional level. Large-scale infectious disease emergencies, such as SARS or pandemic influenza, will be recognized and managed at a local level. The creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) was an important step in strengthening public health capacity. However, we need adequate operatio...

BACKGROUND In 2006, Malawi developed a national influenza plan to mitigate, prevent and manage the burden of infection should an outbreak occur. In 2009, it translated its contingency plan to respond to the unfolding influenza pandemic. However, little is known of how Malawi translated its national influenza plan into response actions, or the success of these responses. OBJECTIVE To investiga...

At the beginning of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 outbreak, we estimated the potential surge in demand for hospital-based services in 4 Health Service Districts of Queensland, Australia, using the FluSurge model. Modifications to the model were made on the basis of emergent evidence and results provided to local hospitals to inform resource planning for the forthcoming pandemic. To evaluate the fit ...

Background After quickly spreading since March 2009 in Mexico, influenza pandemic H1N1 has affected a large part of the world’s population. Countries have made great efforts to contain the pandemic. An important key in containing community transmission and reducing the impacts of the pandemic influenza is to have local people educated to have good knowledge, attitude and practice toward influen...

background: influenza a (h1n1) pandemic is recently threatening the health of world's population. non-pharmaceutical measures are important to prevent the spread of influenza a (h1n1) and to prevent a pandemic. effective influenza pandemic management requires understanding of the factors influencing preventive behavioral changes. this study determined the status of preventive behaviors regardin...

The National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza outlines a plan for community response to a potential pandemic. In this outline, state and local communities are charged with enhancing their preparedness. In order to help public health officials better understand these charges, we have developed a visual analytics toolkit (PanViz) for analyzing the effect of decision measures implemented during a s...

BACKGROUND Reviews of the global response to the 2009 pandemic of influenza A/H1N1 affirmed the importance of assessment of preparedness and response capabilities. DESIGN The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and partners developed the National Inventory of Core Capabilities for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/international/tools.htm) ...