Public Health Agency of Canada recommendations for Avian Flu
by: Eric Schmiedl - At least one Canadian group formed after SARS hit Toronto is working with the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) and other organizations to help boost public safety.
That group is the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which was formed in 2004. It acts independently but is responsible to Canada's health minister. PHAC is in the midst of creating a pandemic plan for Canada, said Aggie Adamczyk, media relations officer with the agency.
The plan is not being formulated just for the Avian Flu but for any disease that could reach pandemic proportions, although PHAC is monitoring the Bird Flu situation. The agency recommends "good respiratory etiquette," she said, which includes using a tissue or sleeve when a sneeze comes upon you. Plenty of hand washing is also a PHAC suggestion.
Where the regular Influenza A symptoms include aching muscles, sore nose, high fever and coughing, people wary of the Bird Flu should be on the watch for symptoms pinpointed in a 1997 Hong Kong outbreak. In that outbreak, people "developed symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and, in several of the fatal cases, severe respiratory distress secondary to viral pneumonia. Previously healthy adults and children, and some with chronic medical conditions, were affected," according to WHO Web information.
As with the WHO, PHAC isn't rushing to recommend the use of SARS-style face masks to ward off the Avian Flu, Adamczyk said, although that could change depending on the course the H5N1 virus takes. "It's a little bit early (for masks or antiviral drugs) at this point," she said. Even so, global health officials need to be ready for whatever new infectious disease comes their way, she said. "No one really knows if it will be Avian Flu or something like SARS. You have to be ready for (any disease)," Adamczyk said.
It is possible to create a vaccine for a pandemic flu, although making it ahead of time is risky because the flu could mutate, limiting the vaccine's effectiveness. The amount of vaccine that would be needed for a pandemic could also prove to be a problem, although research is underway to find technologies to streamline the vaccine production process.
In the event of a pandemic, public health officials could ask people to remain in their homes and refrain from gathering in public places. Other viral outbreaks have led to similar scenarios in North America in the past.
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