 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
China Sets Flu Pandemic Contingency Plan
Beijing (XNA) Sep 29, 2005 China's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday launched a contingency plan for enhancing national readiness against a possible outbreak of pandemic influenza. The contingency plan outlines the structure of national prevention steering and enforcement systems, logistics, emergency reaction and supervision. MOH urged all localities to draft their own contingency plans in accordance with local conditions and make good preparations for a possible flu pandemic. Four levels of alert - red, orange, yellow and blue - will indicate the seriousness of a pandemic outbreak. The most serious level, "red", will be announced in case of the consistent and rapid spread of new sub-type flu virus, or if the World Health Organization (WHO) announces the outbreak of a flu pandemic. Health authorities above the county level must mobilize all medical resources and set up temporary clinics in case a red alertis announced, and the MOH must release daily reports on the surveillance and control of the pandemic to keep the public well informed, according to the plan. The MOH is held accountable for organizing and coordinating epidemic contingency work and, if needed, raising suggestions for establishing a national public health contingency headquarters to the State Council, says the plan. Meanwhile, health authorities above the county level should ensure the collection, registry and delivery of flu virus samples for testing, and the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) should establish a national system to manage the surveillance information of influenza and avian influenza. China has a weak basis for public health and medical services. The disease surveillance network needs improvement and the production capacity of vaccines and drugs is inadequate, said the information office of the MOH. A flu pandemic could arouse turbulent public pandemonium if the country is poorly prepared, it noted. Influenza, an acute respiratory disease caused by influenza virus, can spread quickly among people with high mortality rate. Four pandemic flu outbreaks took place in the world in the 20th century, namely from 1918 to 1919 in Spain, 1957 to 1958 in Asia, 1968 to 1969 in Hong Kong and 1977 in Russia. Each caused huge economic losses and killed millions of people. In the Spanish pandemic, the flu killed 21 million people and infected 600 million others. The toll exceeded deaths in World WarI. WHO has warned against a possible breakout of another pandemic flu in the world. It has promulgated a planning guide book for countries to prevent pandemic flu. Countries including the United States and Canada have already worked out plans. China is a historical breakout place of pandemic influenza. The viruses of the last three global influenza pandemics were first found in China. About half of the flu vaccine virus released by the WHO after 1988 have been collected by China. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola
Less Threatening Bird Flu
Washington (UPI) Jan 11, 2006Talk about good news and bad news: While more cases of avian flu are identified in both birds and humans in Turkey, the first possible signs emerged that the virus itself might not be as lethal as feared. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
