Article: The Coming Pandemic?

But to its credit, the Administration, thanks in large part to the serious efforts of new Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt, has developed and is continuing to update a national pandemic preparedness plan. Even with this only too recent federal recognition of avian influenza as our greatest public health threat, and the billions in congressionally-allocated funds that followed, the federal government is largely limited in what it can do to help local communities in the event of a pandemic. Most communities will simply have to fend for themselves.

So what can the average citizen do? What we don't do is panic. However, we can no longer ignore the warnings. The virus is on the move, and its recent landing in Africa and India has accelerated world health officials' concerns for a global pandemic in the near future.

Local and state governments must be urged to move avian influenza pandemic preparedness to the top of their domestic public health priority list. Hospitals and local and state public health officials must do likewise. Citizens must be informed of the brewing threat, and demand immediate attention be given to community preparedness. Likewise, citizens must allow themselves to be educated as to how best to behave in the event of a pandemic. Public panic and the failure to follow the instructions of local and state civil and public health officials will result in far more illness and death.

While a global pandemic will be next to impossible to stop once it starts, its impact, and its death toll, can be greatly reduced by immediate dedication to preparedness. We might get lucky, and an avian flu pandemic might never materialize. Then again, should we leave it to chance?

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