|
Flu InformationBird Flu: Personal Readiness Must Include These 4 Critical Areas
by:
Bradford Frank M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
The recent hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been powerful reminders of how annihilating the forces of nature can be, and how preparation for them can mitigate their effects. Vertebrate influenza, normally referred to as “bird flu,” is a powerful force of nature that we must prepare for—or suffer the possibly
devastating health and fiscal consequences. Bird flu is a microorganism contagious disease, simply like the regular seasonal flu, but it mightiness turn out to be 70 times more deadly. And, because of the nature of the virus, it mightiness be most deadly for healthy children and adults, and pregnant women—just like the so-called Spanish flu of 1918-19 was.
The report of the U.S. National Intelligence Council’s 2020 Project, Mapping the Worldwide Future, known
a global pandemic (an epidemic that is worldwide) as the single most important threat to the global economy. According to Shigeru Omi, regional director of the Earth Health Organization, “The earth is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic.” And according to Dr. Henry m. robert Webster, a world-renowned flu research worker at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, “We could be heading for a global catastrophe.” Infectious-disease experts have repeatedly warned that it’s not a question of whether a bird-flu pandemic is coming; it’s only a question of when.
Judging from the federal government’s improbably inadequate response at all levels to cyclone
Katrina—which is emblematic of its ineptness in dealing with large national emergencies, its slow and superficial response to bird flu to date, and its lack of leadership on this issue—it is clean that you cannot count on the government to protect you. You must take the initiative to prepare yourself and your family for the coming bird-flu pandemic.
There are four essential areas that you must address to prepare for the bird-flu pandemic: 1) “social distancing”; 2) commodities—including food, 3) personal protective instrumentality (PPE), and 4) fiscal preparation. Societal distancing refers to your living and activity situations once
the pandemic strikes. Without going to extremes, you want you and your family to be as far away from another folk as possible. Bird flu is simply like the regular seasonal flu in that you become infected from another people, not birds. (Although it mightiness be possible to acquire the microorganism infection from birds, it is more much likely that, if you do become infected, you wish have noninheritable the virus from another person, not a bird.)
The bird-flu virus is extremely contagious; it is transmitted although casual contact with a contagious person (who mightiness not have any symptoms during the 1st 24 hours of infection), through touching contaminated objects, and through the air. Because of this, you want to stay away from folk as more as possible, and that means disbursement more time at home. Your children wish not be at school, they wish be home. If your house is on the 73rd floor in an flat building in New Dynasty City, how are you going to avoid another people? You mightiness want to think of an alternative living situation for a few months.
The same principle applies to your activity setting. If you can telecommute, that is the better scenario. If you don’t telecommute now, but because of the type of activity you do it mightiness be a possibility, discuss it with your employer. If you wish have to continue to activity closely with others at your job site, what can be done there to help protect you and others from infection? How can policies and procedures be amended to minimize contact with coworkers or customers? Are there hand-washing stations available? What are your employer’s plans for dealing with the coming pandemic? Discuss these and related issues with your leader
and coworkers.
The second area that must be self-addressed
is “commodities—including food.” There wish be discontinuous difficulties manufacturing or producing goods—because workers about the globe wish be sick or otherwise absent from work. There besides wish be supply chain disruptions—both because workers wish be sick or otherwise absent from work, and because of regional, national and/or international restrictions on travel. These problems wish cause a decrease or the inaccessibility of most or all of the products we easily have access to now.
Commodities such as soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, and virtually everything you can buy at stores such as Wal-Mart wish be difficult or impossible to obtain—for periods of weeks or months at a time. This includes the most important commodity—food. The federal government is always telling us to stock up on emergency supplies for three days. This wish not be adequate preparation for the coming deadly bird-flu pandemic. There wish likely be limited food accessible in stores. In addition, stores are places you want to avoid anyway, because possibly
contagious folk mightiness be there. Stock up now so that you have adequate commodities, including food, for a period of months.
The third area to address is so-called personal protective instrumentality (PPE), which you wish have to use, depending upon circumstances. PPE includes special face masks, called N95 respirators, which help prevent infection through inhalation of the virus. Remember that vertebrate flu (“bird flu”) is a really contagious illness that can be transmitted through the air. The only way to counter this source of infection is through the use of special N95 respirators. These are disposable face masks that can be worn for up to eight hours.
N95 masks were the type of masks worn by hospital workers during the 2003 severe acute metabolism syndrome (SARS) pandemic that smitten a number of cities about the world, including Toronto, Canada. Surgical masks or another common face masks, sometimes used once
sanding or painting and so forth, are not effective.
Other elements of PPE include disposable latex or vinyl gloves, eye spectacles or face shields, gowns acid-fast to liquids, and sometimes disposable booties or disposable head caps. Support in mind that during the pandemic, most folk who become infected wish have to be cared for at home, not in huddled and flooded hospitals. This means that caregivers taking care of admired ones at house need to be protected from the virus, simply like hospital workers working in hospitals. The only way to be protected is to wear PPE. (Just washing your hands—the federal government’s primary recommendation for caregivers at home—will not be enough.) Once the pandemic starts, demand for PPE wish be immense and supplies wish be in really short supply—or nonexistent. Buy now or suffer the consequences later.
The last area that must be self-addressed
before the bird-flu pandemic strikes is personal finances. This is an area that governments at all levels have been mute on. However, preparing your finances to sustain yourself and your family during (and after) the pandemic could prove to be the most important area of preparation. Though the bird-flu virus is deadly and galore of us wish fall ill, most of us wish not die from it—only one to two percentage of the population wish likely die. The huge majority wish live—but under what circumstances?
Think of cyclone
Katrina—where most folk survived—but wherever
hundreds of thousands are now homeless and part-time
or unemployed. Because of the possibly
severe local, national, and international economic consequences of the bird-flu pandemic, galore of us wish suffer financially. Businesses about the earth wish not be able to do or distribute products or provide services. There wish be layoffs and several companies wish go out of business altogether. At a minimum, folk wish be out of activity for periods of weeks or months. Your child or children, if you have any, wish be at home—not in school or day care. Wish that force one parent to stay house from activity to care for them? How wish you pay your rent or mortgage and your bills under these circumstances?
At Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of bar is worth a pound of cure.” Once
it comes to bird-flu preparation could do the difference between life and death, how more you and your family eat, and whether or not you can pay your bills, including your rent or mortgage. The government wish not resolve these issues for you. Simply like Smoky the Bear’s admonition, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Only you can take stock of this situation and do thing
simply about it. Think simply about it—and then do thing
simply about it.
Bradford Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
The Frank Group
P.O. Box 138
Lakewood, NY 14750
http://www.AvoidBirdFlu.com
Simply simply about the author:
The Author
Bradford Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Dr. Frank graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in chemistry and his M.D. degree. He completed two residencies, one in family practice and one in psychiatry. He is board certified in psychopathology as well as addiction medicine and geriatric medicine, and is a clinical assistant prof at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Medicine Sciences, Buffalo, N.Y. He has a master’s in public health (M.P.H.) from Yale, wherever
he specialized in infectious diseases, and an M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Food manufacturer School of Management.
Dr. Frank is president of The Frank Group, a distributed institution that includes a business-contingency planning consulting firm. He has expertness in the areas of business-contingency planning, emerging infectious diseases, severe acute metabolism syndrome (SARS), vertebrate flu (“bird flu”), weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, epidemiology, and various public health issues.
He is the author of many
scientific articles and several books. His latest books are Terror Unleashed: The Coming Bird Flu, Oil, Terrorism, and Fiscal Crises (January 2006), and Avoid Bird Flu: Expert Proposal
to Help You and Your Family Stay Safe (January 2006).
Circulated by Article Emporium
| |
