Definitions

What is pandemic flu?

Influenza is a contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus. Pandemic influenza is an epidemic of the flu virus that spreads worldwide, or across large regions of the world.

A flu pandemic will occur when 3 conditions are met:

A new flu virus emerges
The body has little or no immunity against the new virus
The new virus quickly spreads person to person

Pandemic influenza occurs periodically (about every thirty years) and can have devastating consequences on a worldwide scale. The 1918 outbreak of Spanish Influenza, thought by experts to be closely comparable to that of current prediction, is estimated to have caused up to 50 million deaths worldwide. Research cited on the World Health Organisation (WHO) website concludes that this outbreak of Spanish flu was entirely avian and had some similarities with the current H5N1 bird flu virus. The current swine flu outbreak is a new unique virus; it is mixture of swine, avain and human flu virus causing flu outbreaks across the globe.  

It is important to remember that a pandemic influenza outbreak is not seasonal, it can occur at any time of year. The infection could sweep the globe and may last up to 14-16 weeks and could come in several waves.

An influenza virus can achieve pandemic status when an influenza virus emerges or mutates into a form that can easily escape the defences of the human immune system. It has the ability to spread rapidly, putting severe strain on existing health services. A virus of pandemic proportion usually causes high rates of infection and mortality, as well as intense social and economic disruption.

Pandemic influenza is different from seasonal influenza because it does not just attack the weaker sections of society, but all ages including children and otherwise fit adults.

Human symptoms could be severe and possible complications include viral pneumonia, respiratory distress and organ failure. The UK Health Departments’ Pandemic Influenza Contingency Plan (March 05, October 05), considered clinical attack rates for up to 50% of the UK population.

The threat of an influenza pandemic is very real, and indeed on 31st December 2007, the Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson described it as 'a biological inevitability'. The UK Government's March 2008 National Security Strategy places pandemic influenza as the 'highest risk' amongst civil emergencies, above terrorism or flood.

During a pandemic flu outbreak businesses could lose many of their working population to employee sickness, refusal to travel / attend work or resulting from the necessity to care for family members in a pandemic situation.  Current productivity levels would fall dramatically, and a company may actually cease to function in any capacity.

What is Swine flu?

The immediate risk is presented by a shift in the genetic make-up of a swine influenza virus, H1N1. It is widely publicised and predicted by health professionals, epidemiologists & virologists that this virus has the potential to be the next highly infectious, killer global disease. The WHO is working with governments worldwide to track and contain this virus under difficult circumstances.

The new swine flu H1N1, which allows for easy human-to-human transmission through human contact like hand shaking, coughing and  sneezing, and has already spread to the UK from its source in Mexico. The WHO has stated that containment of the virus is nolonger an option as it has already spread to many countries, the strategy to control the virus is now one of mitigation.