AN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN

An Emergency Preparedness Plan

An Emergency Preparedness Plan

Introduction

H5N1 presents a serious concern in regard to the possibility of large scale global epidemic. Unfortunately, relatively little attention has been given to preparing for this possibility. Even national preparedness in terms of getting ready for a H5N1 pandemic islacking. It is not difficult to imagine that inadequate preparation exists on the smaller scale as well. Every organization, whether it is a private business, a small community, or a local school district should have plans in place for dealing with an outbreak of H5N1.

Concern over H5N1 revolves around its potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Currently the virus is believed to be transmitted, primarily at least,from birds to humans. If the virus mutates to the point that it can pass from human tohuman it is very likely that a pandemic will result (Pugh, 2005).

The World Health Organization (2005) estimates that between two and seven andone-half million people might die in an H5N1 bird flu pandemic. Researchers havespeculated that if a bird flu pandemic does occur it could have an impact exceeding that of the 1918 flu epidemic that killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide (Wahlberg,2007). While previously cases of bird flu have affected the lower respiratory tract where it is relatively non-communicative, molecular changes in the virus have made it particularly adept at growing in the upper respiratory tract where it can be easily spread through coughing and sneezing (Wahlberg, 2007).

Pandemic Scenarios

World Health Organization PhasesThe World Health Organization (WHO) has created six distinct phases describing the developing stages of a pandemic. The Director-General of the WHO makes the decisions on when to move from one phase to another. Each phase describes the epidemiological behavior of the disease and the characteristics of circulating viruses. Weare currently in phase 3. The virus is endemic in bird populations in Asia, but isincreasingly making the jump to humans. It primarily affects the lower respiratory tract making human to human transmission rare and only among close contacts (World HealthOrganization, 2005) Worldwide There are, of course, several scenarios of how a H5N1 pandemic might evolve.

One scenario presented by the World Health Organization (2005) is one in which clustersof illness would be observed within a specific geographic region. This observation would indicate that H5N1 was being passed from human to human within closely associated groups such as families. Those clusters would then spread relatively quickly throughoutthe ...