A rlene King is an accomplished public health leader. This includes serving as Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) from 2009–2014. Prior to that, she was Director General for Pandemic Preparedness and later Director General for a new Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases with the Public Health Agency of Canada. In the 1990s, Dr. King was a Medical Officer of H...

An increasing number of avian flu cases in humans, arising primarily from direct contact with poultry, in several regions of the world have prompted the urgency to develop pandemic preparedness plans worldwide. Leading recommendations in these plans include basic public health control measures for minimizing transmission in hospitals and communities, the use of antiviral drugs and vaccination. ...

The spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) among domestic poultry and wild birds has caused global concern over the outbreak of an influenza pandemic of H5N1. The “Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Action Plan” determines the strategy against an influenza pandemic in Japan. Simulations were carried out using an individual based model (IBM). The IBM targeted a virtual area with a p...

Annual influenza epidemics create a significant public health burden each year in the United States. That influenza continues to pose a public health threat despite being largely preventable through vaccination is indicative of continuing weaknesses in the U.S.'s public health system. Moreover, the burden of annual influenza epidemics and the fragility and instability of the capacity to respond...

In his thoughtful analysis, Doshi aptly describes the need for establishing greater definitional precision of “pandemic influenza” as the basis for future public health preparedness and response efforts.1 Importantly, his assessment highlights a critical ongoing divide between competing perceptions of the very concept of a “pandemic”: namely, between “pandemic” as predominantly a function of ge...

The 1918-1919 H1N1 influenza pandemic was among the most deadly events in recorded human history, killing an estimated 50-100 million persons. Because recent H5N1 avian epizootics have been associated with sporadic human fatalities, concern has been raised that a new pandemic, as fatal as the pandemic of 1918, or more so, could be developing. Understanding the events and experiences of 1918 is ...

Avian influenza or Influenza A (H5N1) is caused by a viral strain that occurs naturally in wild birds, but to which humans are immunologically naïve. If an influenza pandemic occurs, it is expected to have dire consequences, including millions of deaths, social disruption, and enormous economic consequences. The Department of Health and Human Resources plan, released in November 2005, clearly a...

PROBLEM Emergencies resulting from disease outbreaks and extreme environmental events present significant challenges for health services. CONTEXT Preparing to effectively manage emergencies is a core activity in public health units. Field exercises support consolidation of biopreparedness by testing plans, identifying weaknesses, providing training opportunities and developing surge capacity....

On 11 June WHO announced that the spread of H1N1 had reached pandemic phase 6. Since then countries around the world have increased their planning and preparedness for the continuing pandemic. Guidelines have been issued and circulated but confusion continues over their interpretation. We need to remind ourselves of the principles behind control measures and educate and reinforce standard infec...

A fter the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the World Bank committed to providing a financial mechanism to support global pandemic preparedness. In line with its mandate of creating new markets, the bank is proposing an insurance arrangement that does not simply pool donor money but creates a market for private sector investment. We outline the bank’s efforts to do so through the Pandemic Emergency Financi...