 |
|
Flu pandemic medical help left in the waiting room
May 28, 2008GPs are not an integral part of Australian influenza planning, despite the important role they will play in limiting deaths in the event of a pandemic hitting the country, according to research from The Australian National University.
Researchers from the University's National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health and ANU Medical School examined 89 Australian and international pandemic response plans and found general practice involvement was limited, and sometimes not considered.
Research lead Associate Professor Mahomed Patel says international evidence from the SARS outbreaks and influenza epidemics illustrates GPs and allied health professionals have an important role to identify and treat cases, take on hospital workload and continue to support the chronically ill in the event of an outbreak.
"Studies in other countries show that during public health emergencies, most people prefer to see their GPs whom they trust and have a good relationship with. Yet most plans focused on the responses by health departments with little reference to collaborations with GPs," he said.
Despite health experts around the world saying a pandemic was a 'when not if' scenario, pandemic planning is still not seen as an activity to be jointly prepared by health departments, general practitioners and hospitals, Dr Patel added.
"With over 97 million visits annually, general practice is Australia's single largest health sector. If we do not prepare it well, our responses will fail in critical points during an influenza pandemic," he said.
The researchers have devised a framework to guide planning to include general practice covering clinical care for influenza and other conditions, public health responsibilities, the internal environment of general practice and interactions within the broader health system.
General practice coordination was identified as an area of need during Exercise Cumpston 2006, which tested systems for an influenza outbreak, and national guidelines for primary care providers are being developed, the researchers said. The researchers also emphasise the need to move beyond a paper exercise in planning, to drills, simulations and continuing collaboration among people who will need to pull together in a crisis situation.
Research Australia
"Studies in other countries show that during public health emergencies, most people prefer to see their GPs whom they trust and have a good relationship with. Yet most plans focused on the responses by health departments with little reference to collaborations with GPs," he said.
Despite health experts around the world saying a pandemic was a 'when not if' scenario, pandemic planning is still not seen as an activity to be jointly prepared by health departments, general practitioners and hospitals, Dr Patel added.
"With over 97 million visits annually, general practice is Australia's single largest health sector. If we do not prepare it well, our responses will fail in critical points during an influenza pandemic," he said.
The researchers have devised a framework to guide planning to include general practice covering clinical care for influenza and other conditions, public health responsibilities, the internal environment of general practice and interactions within the broader health system.
General practice coordination was identified as an area of need during Exercise Cumpston 2006, which tested systems for an influenza outbreak, and national guidelines for primary care providers are being developed, the researchers said. The researchers also emphasise the need to move beyond a paper exercise in planning, to drills, simulations and continuing collaboration among people who will need to pull together in a crisis situation.
Research Australia
Pandemic Current Events and Pandemic News RSSRethinking Who Should Be Considered 'Essential' During a Pandemic Flu Outbreak
Not only are doctors, nurses, and firefighters essential during a severe pandemic influenza outbreak. So, too, are truck drivers, communications personnel, and utility workers.
Urbanization in Africa at dawn of 20th century marked outbreak of HIV
New research indicates that the most pervasive global strain of HIV began spreading among humans between 1884 and 1924, suggesting that growing urbanization in colonial Africa set the stage for the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
New findings indicate HIV/AIDS pandemic began around 1900, earlier than previously thought
New research indicates that the most pervasive global strain of HIV began spreading among humans between 1884 and 1924, not during the 1930s, as previously reported.
Why some primates, but not humans, can live with immunodeficiency viruses and not progress to AIDS
Key differences in immune system signaling and the production of specific immune regulatory molecules may explain why some primates are able to live with an immunodeficiency virus infection without progressing to AIDS-like illness, unlike other primate species, including rhesus macaques and humans, that succumb to disease.
Discovery opens door for drugs to fight bird flu, other influenza epidemics
Researchers at Rutgers University and The University of Texas at Austin have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight the much-feared bird flu and other virulent strains of influenza.
UTMB researchers test new vaccine to fight multiple influenza strains
A universal vaccine effective against several strains of influenza has passed its first phase of testing, according to Dr. Christine Turley of the University of Texas at Galveston.
Bacterial pneumonia caused most deaths in 1918 influenza pandemic
The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Personalized immunotherapy to fight HIV/AIDS
For a long time, the main obstacle to creating an AIDS vaccine has been the high genetic variability of the HIV virus. Dr. Jean-Pierre Routy and his team from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), in collaboration with Dr. Rafick Sékaly from the Université de Montréal, have overcome this difficulty by designing a personalized immunotherapy for HIV-infected patients.
Survivors of 1918 flu pandemic protected with a lifetime immunity to virus
New research has discovered that infection and natural exposure to the 1918 influenza virus made survivors immune to the disease for the remaining of their lives.
1918 flu antibodies resurrected from elderly survivors
Ninety years after the sweeping destruction of the 1918 flu pandemic, researchers at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt have recovered antibodies to the virus - from elderly survivors of the original outbreak.
More Pandemic Current Events and Pandemic News Articles
 | America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 by Alfred W. Crosby Between August 1918 and March 1919 the Spanish influenza spread worldwide, claiming over 25 million lives, more people than those perished in the fighting of the First World War. It proved fatal to at least a half-million Americans. Yet, the Spanish flu pandemic is largely forgotten today. In this vivid narrative, Alfred W. Crosby recounts the course of the pandemic during the panic-stricken... |
 | Pandemic Influenza: Emergency Planning and Community Preparedness “... an amazing resource ... Dr. Ryan has assembled some of the best experts in the field to guide you in understanding the threat of pandemic influenza and how it can affect you and the people you are responsible for. ...” From the foreword by Lynn A. Slepski, Captain, United States Public Health Service No one is immune to the potential devastation of a mass pandemic influenza... |
 | Little Book of Pandemics by Peter Moore As the world waits once again to see if the latest virus will decimate the population, The Little Black of Pandemics looks at the greatest natural killers of all time. This concise and intelligent look at the most deadly viral and bacterial diseases includes expert opinion on likely future outbreaks, method of contagion, identification of systems, and likelihood of survival. Includes... |
 | The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History by John M. Barry In the winter of 1918, at the height of WWI, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and... |
 | How to Prepare for a Pandemic: and Other Extended Disasters by William Stewart We have been repeatedly warned by leading medical professionals and government health officials that a severe influenza pandemic is a very real possibility, with potential global death tolls exceeding 100 million. We are told that a pandemic will likely last 12-18 months in multiple waves, and to expect widespread social disruption. We are told that we need to stockpile non-perishable food and... |
 | Epidemics and Pandemics: Their Impacts on Human History by Jo Hays |
 | National Strategy for PANDEMIC INFLUENZA by Homeland Security Council The National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza guides our preparedness and response to an influenza pandemic, with the intent of (1) stopping, slowing or otherwise limiting the spread of a pandemic to the United States; (2) limiting the domestic spread of a pandemic, and mitigating disease, suffering and death; and (3) sustaining infrastructure and mitigating impact to the economy and the... |
 | Pandemic by Daniel Kalla Genesis of a PlagueRight now, in a remote corner of rural China, a farmer and his family are sharing their water supply with their livestock: chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep. They share the same waste-disposal system, too.Bird viruses meet their human counterparts in the bloodstreams of the swine, where they mix and mutate before spreading back into the human population. And a new flu is born....Dr.... |
 | The Coming Pandemic Catastrophe by Grattan Woodson MD The human population has never been more vulnerable to pandemic influenza than today. In his third book on the coming pandemic, Dr. Woodson explains why our species will soon suffer a horrendous blow. The virus itself will kill only a fraction of those who die as a result of pandemic. It is the secondary effects it will have on the global economy causing widespread famine and civil disorder... |
 | The AIDS Pandemic: The Collision of Epidemiology With Political Correctness by James Chin This book exposes the extent AIDS programs developed by international agencies and faith-based organizations are more socially, politically, and moralistically correct than epidemiologically accurate or relevant. This is the first book to provide an objective assessment of the AIDS pandemic, offering clear and rational conclusions drawn to challenge the position of UNAIDS and most AIDS... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |