Australia on alert over flu pandemic
18:00 AEST Mon Jun 6 2005
Sheryl Taylor
Be alert not alarmed that's the Health Minister's message about a possibly devastating flu outbreak.
Revealing a plan to deal with the crisis Tony Abbott said Australia is at greater risk than ever from a deadly new strain which could kill thousands of people.
According to the federal government, the WHO, which has been carefully monitoring the spread of bird flu in Asia, believes the world is closer than it’s ever been to a new pandemic outbreak. It has been calling on all governments to develop or refine pandemic plans.
The government has put on alert all emergency health workers, viral surveillance laboratories, and GPs, issuing 35,000 kits on how to fight the expected flu pandemic.
If Australians aren't prepared, then just as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919 wiped out thousands, we could expect the same. It is estimated that a major influenza pandemic could lead to 2.6m Australians seeking medical attention, 58,000 needing hospitalisation and 13,000 deaths.
To avoid such a tragic outcome Australia has in readiness, a huge stockpile of anti-viral treatments for general flu symptoms. But a pandemic is a global outbreak of a new flu strain which no one will have immunity to. New vaccines will have to be developed and the longer that takes, the more grim the outcome.
“If it happens, no one who lives through it will forget it,” Health Minister Tony Abbott warned, saying the risk comes from the potentially deadly bird flu in Asia, “if it mutates, into a form which is very easy for humans to catch, then we have a pandemic flu outbreak.”
Apart from placing enormous pressure on hospitals and healthcare centres, a pandemic could drain existing stockpiles of treatments and vaccines, forcing the government to enact special legislation to enlist support from the private sector.
© National Nine News 2005
Sheryl Taylor
Be alert not alarmed that's the Health Minister's message about a possibly devastating flu outbreak.
Revealing a plan to deal with the crisis Tony Abbott said Australia is at greater risk than ever from a deadly new strain which could kill thousands of people.
According to the federal government, the WHO, which has been carefully monitoring the spread of bird flu in Asia, believes the world is closer than it’s ever been to a new pandemic outbreak. It has been calling on all governments to develop or refine pandemic plans.
The government has put on alert all emergency health workers, viral surveillance laboratories, and GPs, issuing 35,000 kits on how to fight the expected flu pandemic.
If Australians aren't prepared, then just as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919 wiped out thousands, we could expect the same. It is estimated that a major influenza pandemic could lead to 2.6m Australians seeking medical attention, 58,000 needing hospitalisation and 13,000 deaths.
To avoid such a tragic outcome Australia has in readiness, a huge stockpile of anti-viral treatments for general flu symptoms. But a pandemic is a global outbreak of a new flu strain which no one will have immunity to. New vaccines will have to be developed and the longer that takes, the more grim the outcome.
“If it happens, no one who lives through it will forget it,” Health Minister Tony Abbott warned, saying the risk comes from the potentially deadly bird flu in Asia, “if it mutates, into a form which is very easy for humans to catch, then we have a pandemic flu outbreak.”
Apart from placing enormous pressure on hospitals and healthcare centres, a pandemic could drain existing stockpiles of treatments and vaccines, forcing the government to enact special legislation to enlist support from the private sector.
© National Nine News 2005
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