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Avian Flu, BCM and the risks of a Pandemic part 3

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Category Business Continuity Management Briefing BCM - BCM & Risk Management

 

Pandemic Influenza, Avian Influenza and Business Continuity Planning ... cont'd -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Continued from previous page ...

Table 4 below give basic advice on self care both for the patient and the carer.

Table 4: Basic self care advice

What should I do when I or someone in my family gets sick with the flu?
Know how to care for an adult or child who becomes sick with the flu
Stay at home when you are sick
Use separate personal items, such as towels and utensils, if you or family members are ill
Stay in touch with the local and national media as the Department of Health and others will be issuing regular bulletins and advice.

Advice to travellers

The World Health Organization (WHO) does not at present recommend any restrictions on travel to any country currently experiencing outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry flocks, including countries which have also reported cases in humans.

Table 5 below gives general advice to travellers, in particular about contact with poultry.

Table 5: Travel advice and contact with poultry

If you are visiting countries with reported outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza among poultry, you should observe the following measures:
do not visit bird or poultry farms or markets
avoid close contact with live or dead poultry
do not eat raw or poorly-cooked poultry or poultry products, including blood
wash your hands frequently with soap and water
do not attempt to bring any live birds or poultry products back to the UK.

Antiviral drugs

The UK Government is to procure 14.6 million treatment courses of the antiviral, Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) this is enough to treat a quarter of the UK population.

The plan is to use these drugs for treatment purposes only. Thus the logistics to put in place are to ensure anyone who is infected can be given a treatment supply as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after symptom onset.

Vaccines

The UK's National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) is one of several organisations worldwide participating in the development of a vaccine to combat the H5N1 strain of the influenza virus.

Whether these will be suitable for use against a new pandemic flu strain depends on how much the pandemic strain may have mutated and changed from the original H5N1 virus strain used to create the vaccine.

If the virus should substantially change, it is unlikely that existing vaccines would be effective, and a new one would have to be developed. Whilst the existence of an H5N1 vaccine could speed up the production of an effective vaccine, work on creating a vaccine could only begin once the new strain has been identified.

The DoH has plans in place to purchase, in advance, the capacity needed to make pandemic flu vaccine. This should ensure that an effective vaccine is available for use in the UK as quickly as possible after a flu pandemic starts. The UK will need approximately 120 million doses to be available as soon as possible.

How to keep up-to-date

The following links are to websites (and website sections) that provide useful and regularly updated information.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)

World Health Organisation (WHO)

National Travel Health Network

References and Acknowledgements:

UK Department of Health: UK Influenza Pandemic Contingency Plan

UK Health Protection Agency (HPA)

UK Government Cabinet office Guidelines: Contingency Planning for a Possible Influenza Pandemic

USA: Centres for Disease Control CDC)

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For more details on these activities and the general activities of the Continuity Forum please contact us directly on +44 208 993 1599 or visit or website at www.continuityforum.org. Please do contact Sara Mckenna/ or Russell Price /. END