Pandemic planning in Canada

[five_alarm]

NIPAWIN, SK - During the presentation those in attendance were told estimates have suggested that 150,000 to 350,000 people in Saskatchewan could be infected by the new strain of the virus. Of those, some will have minor cases of influenza and be able to take care of themselves and their families. However as many as 60,000 to 160,000 people will require outpatient service, 1,000 to 2,800 will require hospitalization and 300 to 1,000 will die from the virus or complications from the disease.

A group of concerned citizens in Nipawin will spend the next several months, or possibly even years, planning for an event that they hope will never happen. But far from a huge waste of time and energy, this planning could play a vital role in the health and well being of every resident in the area. According to information provided by Saskatchewan Health, a worldwide influenza pandemic is due to strike within the next few years and local plans are already underway in the event of a worst-case scenario.

Source: nipawinjournal.com (http://www.nipawinjournal.com/story.php?id=128754&linkid=1140&parent=news(headlines)&)

[five_alarm]

NATIONAL - Consider this scenario: news breaks that the widely expected influenza pandemic has erupted somewhere in the world.

In Canada, as in many countries, the race begins to produce a vaccine to match the particular strain that's starting to claim lives at an alarming rate. With luck, three months pass before the first cases are identified here. Perhaps another three months later, with the media din growing by the day, Canada's first doses of vaccine are ready.

When those shots are available, public health authorities make sure those people most at risk are at the front of the line -- but that doesn't include the vast majority of kids.

Source: macleans.ca (http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/health/article.jsp?content=20050404_103143_103143)

[five_alarm]

OTTAWA, ON - Thirty of the world's health ministers are in Ottawa this week, preparing for a possible worldwide flu pandemic, while in the background the City of Ottawa is still refining its plan for coping at the local level. The international group will discuss detection and response to a potential pandemic as a particularly deadly strain of Avian flu has been discovered in birds in Europe, touching off fears it could soon arrive in North America.

The H5N1 virus is currently spread from bird to bird. People can only get it through contact with infected birds. But disease experts are worried it could mutate into a form that can spread from human to human, perhaps setting off a worldwide pandemic. A month ago the City of Ottawa released a plan to cope with that scenario, but some parts of that plan still need work. "SARS showed that it's not just an if event, it's a when event," said Bruce Montone, Ottawa's deputy fire chief. Some estimates say a pandemic would infect about 30,000 people in the city every week and put 350 in hospital.

Related Links from the CBC
Deadly bird flu strain found in Britain (http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/10/23/bird-flu051023.html)
Avian influenza: FAQs (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/avianflu/)

Source: ottawa.cbc.ca (http://ottawa.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ot-pandemic20051024)

[five_alarm]

The bird flu in Asia will soon lead to a flu pandemic

It's impossible to confirm that the H5N1 bird flu strain in Asia and now in Europe will lead to the next human flu pandemic, although it is worrisome. While the World Health Organization says there is no reason yet to panic, they concede that with the virus spreading quickly and its behaviour continually changing, "the probability that a [human] pandemic will occur has increased."

The bird flu has mutated so that it can spread human to human

Although there have been a handful of suspected cases of human-to-human transmission, they have been rare and require further study to confirm. According to the WHO, data from these incidents suggest that transmission requires very close contact with an ill person. What's more, none of the cases spread beyond a first generation of close contacts and caused illness in the general community.

If the H5N1 bird flu comes to Canada, a flu pandemic is inevitable ...

Source: ctv.ca (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051024/bird_flu_myths_feature_051024/20051024?hub=Specials)

[five_alarm]

SAANICH, BC - As the virulent strain of avian flu moves into Europe, it may offer some comfort to know that the people in charge of Saanich's emergency plan are adding a pandemic chapter. Saanich's Emergency Program Committee chaired by Mayor Frank Leonard hired a consultant to write a draft pandemic policy to add to Saanich's emergency plan.

The draft plan was completed this fall and Saanich's fire department is currently filling in the fine print. The task was sobering for some of those involved in the plan: the mayor, fire chief Dave Ward and deputy fire chief Mike Burgess, who serves as the emergency plan programmer. In many ways, a pandemic would be similar to any other disaster. It differs in that it is more drawn out, and contagious and it could affect the entire nation - which would mean Saanich couldn't rely on outside help.

Unlike a earthquake, where you'd expect the province or the rest of Canada to step in and help with medical supplies and money, those folks might also be overwhelmed by the pandemic, said Ward. In a full blown outbreak, only remote communities would be spared. "We'd be on our own," he said. Medicine, and perhaps more importantly, sanitation has changed a lot since the last major flu pandemic that killed between 20 and 40 million people in 1918.

Source: saanichnews.com (http://www.saanichnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=28&cat=23&id=520132&more=)

[five_alarm]

TORONTO, ON - Today, Dr. David McKeown, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, released the Toronto Pandemic Influenza Plan and issued recommendations for action by the federal and provincial governments and the City of Toronto.

“This plan is a work in progress and while we have achieved improved readiness for a possible pandemic, there is much more work to do. You could say we are planning for the worst case scenario while hoping for - and working toward - the best possible outcome,” said Dr. McKeown.

The plan has two main objectives: to reduce illness and death and to minimize social disruption in the event of a pandemic. Dr. McKeown said the timing and severity of the next influenza pandemic cannot be predicted. It will occur when a new strain of flu virus appears which can be transmitted from person to person and for which there is little or no immunity in the human population.

Source: wx.toronto.ca (http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/it/newsrel.nsf/7017df2f20edbe2885256619004e428e/7c5551f34ded2771852570c3006ce4e9?OpenDocument)

[five_alarm]

TORONTO, ON - As you read the latest news about sick and dying chickens or ducks around the globe, you might ask yourself questions like these:

In the event a bird-flu pandemic hits the human population, should we force doctors and nurses to stand on the front lines and fight the disease, or let them seek safer ground?
Who should we treat with available medicines and who should do without?
Who should we quarantine, ban, turn away or jail?
Who should we save and who let die?
A global flu outbreak — avian or otherwise — would not only stretch the world's health-care apparatus past all normal limits, most experts concede, but it would test our ethical frameworks to their very core. And yet as the word pandemic becomes part of our daily discourse, we are watching, waiting and worrying in a near ethical vacuum, says a group of medical ethicists from the University of Toronto.

Source: thestar.com (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Article&cid=1133133016571&call_pageid=968332188492)

[Scuba]

I hope anyone that reads this can't say that they really think that the fact that we're breeding Geneticly modified birds has had no effect on the over all population and suseptability of the gene pool.........here's an actual chicken in isreal......altered to grow thicker skin and no feathers.....why not toss in H5N1 while they're at it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/05/21/wchick21.xml



btw... Here's the CDC's site for avain Flu info - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/

[firefighter26]

The problem after a pandemic will be pandemic's second comming if the predicted masses of bodies are not delt with properly. Look at how many times Europes population has been decimated by the plague. In our neck of the woods there is talk about using the rec. centre as a large treatment facility. Chances are the Ice and curling rink will be mass morgues while the public treatment centre will be at a school or shopping mall.

The guy that said it was right, it is not a mater of "if" anymore, but "when." With our luck we'll get an earth quake, tsumani, ice storm, flood, drought forest fire all at the same time across the entire country.

I sorta get the feeling that mother nature is pissed off!

[berwynFD]

Too many chicken in our coupe.

We have no choice but keep our eyes cloase and hope our selves and our kids manage to make it through.

It is a matter of time. Every organism has a critical population limit. Some start killing each other some get desease some starve. We seem to be headed in all these directions.

My eyes are closing now.

Do Do DO DO Da DA DA DA.....

[five_alarm]

PETERBOROUGH, ON - In recent years Peterborough County and its member municipalities have held a series of mock emergencies designed to ensure local firefighters, police, roads crews and municipal staff are prepared to deal with a wide range of disasters and emergency situations. Fires, chemical spills, train derailments and major traffic accidents have all been dealt with by local municipal control groups who gather to practise how they would respond to real disasters within their municipalities.

This year, however, municipalities had to deal with a different scenario. There were no local chemical spills or fires, no concrete disasters requiring specific prepared responses. This time emergency planners worked with a scenario with the potential to strike panic and fear throughout local communities. What would happen, emergency planners asked themselves, if the fears of many scientists were realized...

Source: communitypress-online.com (http://www.communitypress-online.com/template.php?id=25415&RECORD_KEY(News)=id&id(News)=25415)

[five_alarm]

LEDUC, AB - Leduc Protective Services will have to put together the city’s pandemic planning without the aid of software to streamline the project, -- software that would cost the city $40,000.

The software, which would simplify the updating of the city’s emergency planning, was pulled from the 2006 budget. Instead, plans for a possible influenza outbreak -- or any sort of viral outbreak -- will be integrated into the city’s existing emergency plan on pen and paper, which deputy fire Chief Gerry Kelly said could take an extra five months.

Source: leducrep.com (http://www.leducrep.com/story.php?id=205786)

[five_alarm]

FREDERICTON, NB - Imagine a flu outbreak that could strike anyone, kill within months, cripple New Brunswick's health care system, disrupt essential services and worst of all – has no vaccine or treatment.

Public health officials in New Brunswick say it's only a matter of time before an influenza pandemic hits the province, and are assuming that kind of worst-case scenario in planning how to cope with the attack. The Department of Health and Wellness has created a 38-page pandemic action plan (http://www.gnb.ca/0053/influenza/index-e.asp), released to the public Thursday.

It's part of a nation-wide response to deal with what scientists believe will be a world wide outbreak of a killer flu within 10 years. Health Minister Elvy Robichaud says a pandemic is inevitable, and New Brunswick is ready...

Source: cbc.ca (http://www.cbc.ca/nb/story/nb_pandemicplan20060126.html)

[Michael13]

I know the governments are preparing for something because they were calling local funeral homes and having them do an inventory to get a ball park figure on how many deaths they could handle at one time. They were looking to see how much chemical they kept on hand, number of caskets, number of employees that are able to help with transfers, that sort of thing, whether they have storage, number of vehicles, etc etc. So you know they are planning at least...thats a step I didnt think they would think off, but they have.

[five_alarm]

OTTAWA, ON - Doctors, nurses and other emergency workers are unlikely to receive preventive doses of a drug that is predicted to be the best defence against infection during an influenza pandemic because the existing stock will be needed to treat the seriously ill.

This is the reality, officials say, despite the fact that Canada's pandemic influenza plan states that antiviral drugs, in particularly oseltamivir (marketed as Tamiflu), could be used as a "prophylactic" to prevent or reduce the severity of the disease among people essential to keeping society functioning. These include firefighters, police, elected officials, funeral directors, utility workers and even truck drivers who transport food and medicine.

"Prophylaxis of this group will minimize societal disruption," the plan says. And some public-service sectors are building their own pandemic preparations around the assumption the drug will be available to at least some of their essential personnel -- even though its effectiveness is something of a question mark.

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060204.wxtamiflu04/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home)

[five_alarm]

INTERNATIONAL - Because fire fighters are the first to respond to emergencies and disasters, the IAFF has developed guidance for IAFF affiliates and members in protecting themselves from and preparing for a potential flu pandemic.

“Our challenge as all-hazard emergency responders is to predict and prepare for the next disaster -- whether it is natural or man-made,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “The time to begin preparations for an avian flu pandemic is now, before the flu reaches pandemic proportions.”

The IAFF guidelines include standard procedures for patient care in which universal precautions are used, as well as recommendations for fire fighters and emergency medical personnel to use – at a minimum – a P-100 disposable respirator ...

... full text (http://www.iaff.org/safe/content/Avian%20Flu/Pan%20Flu%20Final.htm) of the IAFF guidance on the avian flu pandemic and other related information.

Source: iaff.org (http://daily.iaff.org/013006flu.htm)

[five_alarm]

CENTER HASTINGS, ON - On the evening of February 15 Mr. Bill Sherlock of the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit presented a talk to a group of local firefighters and others on Pandemic Planning. The meeting was arranged by Cathie Lahey-Francis, Coordinator of the Centre Hastings Emergency Plan.

Mr. Sherlock spoke on past influenza - “flu” - pandemics, their statistics and how a new pandemic will be monitored. He also covered how we should protect ourselves, something firefighters and health care workers are particularly concerned with, and answered a number of questions from the audience. Unfortunately, though he covered the basics of what a pandemic is, he generally played down its likelihood and consequences and seemed to leave the audience wondering how they would actually cope with such a serious situation.

Source: communitypress-online.com (http://www.communitypress-online.com/template.php?id=26514&RECORD_KEY(News)=id&id(News)=26514)

[five_alarm]

INTERNATIONAL - Bird flu is likely to cross over into people again and again if it ever even once acquires the ability to pass from human to human, experts predicted on Monday.

In theory, the virus only has to mutate once, in one person, to spark a pandemic. But the researchers argue that this could happen again and again, in several places around the world. They said even if the current pandemic killing birds passes, no one should breathe a sign of relief because the threat to people will not be gone.

"At best, a containment policy will only postpone the emergence of a pandemic, 'buying time' to prepare for its effects," Dr. Marc Lipsitch and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. Carl Bergstrom from the University of Washington wrote.

Source: ca.today.reuters.com (http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-21T010308Z_01_N20345128_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-BIRDFLU-CONTAINMENT-COL.XML&archived=False)

[five_alarm]

INTERNATIONAL - The spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus seems unstoppable, with an ever-lengthening list of countries detecting the virus in dead migratory birds and occasionally in domestic poultry.

But while the geographic expansion of the virus is ringing alarm bells at the political level across Europe and beyond, disease experts insist the finding of H5N1 in a raft of new countries doesn't in itself raise the risk that it will spark a human influenza pandemic.

John Wood, a leading influenza virologist, doesn't believe the recent developments have changed the nature of the pandemic threat posed by this virus. "I think the risk is still the same as it was a few months ago, before the virus started moving all over Europe and into India and Nigeria," Wood, who's with Britain's National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, said yesterday.

Source: ottsun.canoe.ca (http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/02/21/1453877-sun.html)

[five_alarm]

WEST ELGIN, ON - Elgin County is due for a pandemic which could see body bags lined along the ice at West Elgin Arena. Planning for the worst isn’t about stirring fears as much as it’s about thinking about what ifs, says Manager of Health Protection, Christine Enns at the Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit. Part of the planning has the arena ready to be converted into a morgue because of its available ice surface.

The health unit has an early drafted pandemic influenza plan and hopes to have a pandemic officer hired next week to work for at least a year to complete the plan. “It’s not like we have no plans right now,” said Enns. “Everyone feels pressure to be ready. It needs to be done as soon as possible.” Using plans established by the province and federal government, Enns began making presentations to stakeholders Feb. 2.

Source: thechronicle-online.com
(http://thechronicle-online.com/story.php?id=214881)

[five_alarm]

POWASSAN, ON - Emergency planning coordinators and municipal staff from across the Almaguin Highlands, who met in Powassan on March 9th were urged to starting making preparations now in order to meet the exhausting challenge of over 99,000 people in the region becoming infected in the event of an influenza pandemic.

North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit Director of Infectious Disease Leeann Whitney said that, based on national models, the health unit has determined the potential pandemic statistics for its region at 99,551 people infected; 46,457 of which will become clinically ill; 35,110 will require outpatient care; 734 will be hospitalized and the death toll will be 227.

Basing these figures on international estimates that 35 per cent of the population will be infected, Whitney said the predicted numbers could be greater “if people from southern Ontario take up temporary residence in their seasonal homes in the north because they feel they may be less likely to come in contact with the virus in a non-urban setting.”

Source: almaguinnews.com (http://www.almaguinnews.com/Articles%202006/11_2_03_15_06.htm)

[CrazyLadder]

Have any fire depts, career or vollie, started preparing for this. There will likely be shortages of certain materials that could be stock piled now; ie. N95 masks, safety glasses, water. Have any plans been made to keep fire protection levels safe as we may be overwhelmed with medical calls. Just curious and concerned.

[Dave404]

Suit me up with a mega depends and an I.V - good to go!:D Seriously we have begun preparing, but how do you prepare ultimatly for the loss of 1/2 to 3/4 of your work force! Best made plans are ultimatly doomed for a test!

[cdnbacon]

Thankfully I work in a hospital. Woohoo free flu shots. I'll be one of the first in line to.

[five_alarm]

BURNABY, BC - Operations have been cancelled and two medical wards remain closed as a Burnaby hospital rides out an outbreak of the nasty Norwalk virus. Twenty-seven patients and 44 staff, mostly nurses, have been stricken with the virus, which causes chills and violent vomiting for up to three days, since the outbreak began at Burnaby General Hospital on March 10.

"They're dropping like flies out there," said Melanie Leckovic, a nurse who works in the emergency room.

In a bid to control the spread of the highly contagious disease, hospital officials have closed 110 beds to new admissions, postponed or cancelled nine operations and warned people with minor ailments to seek medical treatment elsewhere. Some nurses have recovered and returned to their posts, Ms. Leckovic said, but the disease is taking its toll.

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060321.BCBURNABY21/TPStory/National)

[five_alarm]

NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR - Government will invest upwards of $4.7 million in Budget 2006 to ensure the province is prepared to respond to and manage public health emergencies, including pandemic influenza, should the need arise. Through this investment, government will create a strong public health system that supports the integration of population health assessment, health surveillance, disease and injury prevention, health promotion and health protection.

"The threat of a potential influenza pandemic is a public concern around the world, and one our government takes very seriously. Today we are announcing $4.7 million to help fund our integrated approach for health and emergency preparedness," said Premier Williams. "Our government is investing resources now to ensure that we are prepared to respond to potential emergencies.

Source: municipalsuppliers.com (http://www.municipalsuppliers.com/news_detail.asp?ID=48066)

[five_alarm]

NATIONAL - The number of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health professionals being immunized against influenza is so abysmal that it threatens the health and safety of patients, according to the Canadian Journal of Public Health. (http://www.cpha.ca/)

As a result, the time has come to make flu shots mandatory for all health workers, the journal argues in a strongly worded editorial. "The sooner that routine use of influenza vaccine is comprehensively implemented, the better," Dr. Ian Gemmill, co-chair of the Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness and Promotion, writes in today's edition of the CJPH.

He said that while a voluntary program, broadly accepted, would be ideal, the reality is that only 20 per cent to 60 per cent of health-care workers in acute-care settings are being vaccinated, according to various studies. "That's just not good enough," Dr. Gemmill said in an interview. "If health-care professionals cannot live up to their responsibilities, this will have to be regulated."

Source: theglobeandmail.com (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060321.wxhflu21/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home)

[BCFFFV]

Seems to me that if government makes any kind of SHOT mandatory for health/emergency workers they better remember that when contracts get renewed.

[mutts252]

... i still have zero faith in flu shots. you just can't immunize against an RNA virus, it's not physically possible... you just kinda guess at what strains *might* be going around, and give it your best educated guess...

[five_alarm]

INTERNATIONAL - The risk for humans to get H5N1 bird flu is relatively low while the infection is deadly. Two recent studies have explained that bird flu H5N1 virus is not as infectious to humans as to poultry because humans lack the cell receptors in the upper-respiratory tract for the virus to dock on cells.

The highly pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1 has infected more than 200 people and killed over 100. But in all cases, the infection was caused by close contact with sick or dead birds, indicating transmission of bird flu from birds to humans is not easy. Transmission of the virus from person to person has not been reported.

The first new study, conducted by Yoshihiro Kawaoka and colleagues of University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Tokyo, and other organizations, found that human cells lack the surface receptors in the upper portions of the respiratory system for the bird flu virus to infect human cells. They reported their study in the journal Nature.

Source: foodconsumer.org (http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/Natural_barrier_helps_humans_defend_H5N1_bird_flu. shtml)

[vollyFFgurl]

Seriously we have begun preparing, but how do you prepare ultimatly for the loss of 1/2 to 3/4 of your work force! Best made plans are ultimatly doomed for a test!

Apparently my office should have prepared :( I have been sick for 4 days, out of the office for 3, my boss has been sick for 5 days, and our receptionist was out for 3 days also. So out of only 4 people in the company, we lost ..oo...3/4 lol. Whatever is going around Calgary is friggin nasty, not strep throat, but very similar in symptoms. Dave, aren't u glad I didn't go to training??? lol. :P

PS, I havent had the flu shot in almost 8 years now...Never have had the flu, just Strep throat. Load of BS if you ask me. They can't immunize against whats coming up, just whats been in the past.

[Dave404]

. Dave, aren't u glad I didn't go to training??? lol. :P

PS, I havent had the flu shot in almost 8 years now...Never have had the flu, just Strep throat. Load of BS if you ask me. They can't immunize against whats coming up, just whats been in the past.

After the week I have had I think running to the bathroom would be more fun! Dealt with the same stuff all week:D ! I however did get the flu shot - last 2 years. No flu for me - 3 years ago I was a mess! It was a crappy year!

[bestcoast]

... i still have zero faith in flu shots. you just can't immunize against an RNA virus, it's not physically possible... you just kinda guess at what strains *might* be going around, and give it your best educated guess...
I've had the flu shot for about the last 6 or 7 years. It's offered free by the city and in typical FF fashion anything free...sign me up!!...so far no flu touch wood.....don't know if the shot has anything to do with it but im gonna keep on getting them.....and that cat looks like a cutomer we had that Overdosed last night...maybe same drugs??...lol...BC....

[vollyFFgurl]

maybe same customer? lol anywho..my mom works in a medical clinic, and every year gets the flu shot..and every year she winds up with the flu. I personally think there is only so much planning u can do. one way or another, the gene will mutate and we will all be caught somehow or someway.

[five_alarm]

WINNIPEG, MB - It's a challenge that could force us to redefine the word emergency. During a flu pandemic, with up to one-third of police, firefighters and ambulance staff away sick, what exactly are we willing to give up?

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic spokesman Robin Alford said planning has begun to offset the resource crunch many fear could result from a global virus. But at this point, key questions about how first responders could cope with a depleted work force remain unanswered. "It's about what you are willing to do without," said Alford. "Those are the hard decisions that need to be made ... If you don't have people to respond, you can't get to those who need help."

Source: winnipegsun.com (http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Outbreak/2006/04/06/1522102-sun.html)

[five_alarm]

WINNIPEG, MB - Canada has hundreds of pages worth of pandemic plans, but the tools to roll out each step aren't ready just yet. The Canada Influenza Pandemic Plan suggests mass immunization clinics, alternate care sites and using volunteers to bolster health staff.

But a second plan dealing with when and how these actions would take place is still in the works. The National Strategy on Pandemic Influenza will aim to answer these questions and co-ordinate responses between governments, which must mobilize simultaneously during a pandemic. It's due later this spring.

"The national strategy will be the over-arching document, which will encompass the pandemic plan," said Dr. James Young, who chairs the committee designing the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada plan.

Source: winnipegsun.com (http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Outbreak/2006/04/06/1522101-sun.html)

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC): psepc-sppcc.gc.ca (http://www.psepc-sppcc.gc.ca/)

[five_alarm]

EDMONTON, AB - The headlines aren't hard to imagine: Hundreds die overnight! Bodies on ice in Rexall! Looting on Jasper Avenue! Mass hysteria grips city! Most people know a global flu pandemic is looming, and could kill thousands in Edmonton alone.

Why, then, does it seem like most Edmontonians aren't at all worried about it, let alone prepared? Some will say it's because the news outlets have beaten the pandemic horse to bits. Others say the public isn't moved to act until it sees tangible reasons to.

Take hurricane Katrina - all the right people knew New Orleans' levees would fail during a catastrophic storm, but no one did anything about it. When the big storm hit, the city's infrastructure crumbled before a worldwide audience.

Source: edmontonsun.com (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/04/09/1526999-sun.html)

Individuals and emergency services must prepare: edmontonsun.com (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/04/09/1527000-sun.html)

[five_alarm]

LEVEL 1. Inter-pandemic phase. Low risk to humans.

LEVEL 2. New virus in animals. No human cases, higher risk of human infection.

LEVEL 3*. Pandemic Alert. Human infection, no or very limited human-to-human transmission.

LEVEL 4. Small clusters of human infection. Evidence of increased human-to-human spread.

LEVEL 5. Increased spread, large clusters in limited areas.

LEVEL 6. PANDEMIC - sustained spread in general human population.

(*Where we are today)

Source: edmontonsun.com (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/04/09/1527001-sun.html)

[bestcoast]

www.iaff.org/across/news/Archive2006/041006Flu.htm

............BC.............

[five_alarm]

OTTAWA, ON - Health experts are wasting millions of dollars on a virus that poses little real risk, according to Ontario's former chief medical officer of health.

"This is not the first time the talking heads have threatened us with microbiological oblivion," said Dr. Richard Schabas, citing SARS and the Ebola virus as cases when fear trumped reality. "There are a whole litany of diseases that were supposed to overwhelm us but didn't."

Schabas said the loudest voices of the H5N1 alarm, such as the World Health Organization, stand to earn fame and funding by stoking pandemic fears. Ironically, he criticized government for failing to plan for pandemic flu about 10 years ago. But during the past nine years, the risk H5N1 will mutate and spread easily among humans dwindled, as its ability to infect people holds steady, he said.

Source: ottawasun.com (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2006/04/09/1526625-sun.html)


Also from the Ottawa Sun:

Ticking time bomb (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2006/04/09/1526624-sun.html)
Pandemics of the past (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2006/04/09/1526626-sun.html)
Anatomy of a potential killer (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2006/04/09/1526627-sun.html)
Disaster plans (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2006/04/09/1526628-sun.html)
Avian flu travel warnings (http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2006/04/09/1526629-sun.html)

[five_alarm]

WATERLOO, ON - Parents in the Waterloo area are scrambling to update immunization records for their children after more than 1,000 elementary students were suspended from school Wednesday because they could not produce proper documents.

The Region of Waterloo Public Health suspended the students after repeatedly warning parents of children in Grades 2 through 8 that it would do so to prevent outbreaks of preventable disease. Lesley Rintche, manager of the region's immunization and vaccine preventable disease program, said receiving vaccinations is required under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Statutes/English/90i01_e.htm).

The law states that children are to receive a series of needles to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, polio, measles, mumps and rubella, with exemptions allowed on medical or philosophical grounds. But those exemptions must be on file.

Source: cbc.ca (http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/story/immunization-schools20060504.html)

[five_alarm]

INTERNATIONAL - Teens before toddlers, according to two U.S. bioethicists, who say people between early adolescence and middle age should be given priority over those 65 and older, which is exactly opposite to what Canada's pandemic plan proposes.Writing in the journal Science, Ezekiel Emanuel and Alan Wertheimer argue the "save the most lives" principle driving U.S. and Canadian flu planning -- which gives priority to those at highest risk of being hospitalized or dying -- is ethically flawed.Source: canada.com (http://www.canada.com/cityguides/winnipeg/info/story.html?id=e7414ec9-e23b-483a-9485-8e1d3f89b4ed&k=35795)

[five_alarm]

NATIONAL - When it came to the Titanic, it was women and children first. In the event of a pandemic, however, Canadian children are at the bottom of the heap. That’s right. If the dreaded bird flu hits, kids will be the very last to receive vaccines. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, health-care workers (including paramedics and ambulance drivers) would be the first to receive a vaccine in the event of a pandemic. That’s fine. Front-line health-care workers deserve to be inoculated first. After all, if you’re willing to put your life on the line...Source: winnipegsun.com (http://winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Lovric_Lydia/2006/05/19/1587390.html)

[five_alarm]

INTERNATIONAL - The World Health Organization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_%28WHO%29) told the maker of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamiflu) to ready its global stockpile for shipment, after the deadly virus passed among several Indonesians in the same family, officials said Saturday. The U.N. health organization said it put Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_Holding_AG) on alert Monday for the first time, but its stockpile will remain in place. "We have no intention of shipping that stockpile," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told The Associated Press. "We see this as a practice run."Source: ctv.ca (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060527/bird_flu_060527/20060527?hub=CTVNewsAt11)

Indonesia bird flu probe is 'disturbing:' doctor: ctv.ca (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060523/flu_indonesia_tests_060524/20060524?hub=CTVNewsAt11)
Toronto hospitals to stockpile bird flu drug: torontosun.com (http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2006/06/01/1609463-sun.html)
Bird-flu fears bring up debate over global risks: canada.com (http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=3d2cd16d-0066-4143-8ffe-d711bfc1e67b)

[five_alarm]

BROCKVILLE, ON - City officials and representatives from social services, the police and fire departments, emergency medical services and the local health unit took a refresher course Wednesday afternoon in what to do in case of an emergency. Now, if a flu epidemic hits the Brockville area, they'll know what to do. "Annually, municipalities are required to do emergency planning training and hold a mock emergency exercise," said city fire chief and Brockville's community emergency management co-ordinator Harry Jones.Source: newsfeed.recorder.ca (http://newsfeed.recorder.ca/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=18447)

[hrecruit]

INTERNATIONAL - The Bush administration’s recent release of its plan outlining the nation’s response to pandemic flu makes it clear that fire fighters and paramedics need to do all they can to prepare for an outbreak. “With the threat of a human-to-human outbreak of the avian flu escalating, our challenge as all-hazard emergency responders is to prepare now, before the flu reaches pandemic proportions,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger.Source: iaff.org (click for full story) (http://www.iaff.org/across/news.html)