Swine Flu Outbreak Resources

As a public service, here are a few reliable and current sources for information in regards to the Swine Flu outbreak:

Webinar: Will Your Swine Flu Communication Plan Work?
Recorded April 29, 2009 – 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET
1 hour (45 minutes content; 15 minutes Q & A)
Featuring Dr. Robert C. Chandler, Ph.D., crisis communication expert

• The current swine flu outbreak is a serious issue, and already swine flu-related rumors and misinformation are making the rounds. Will your constituents be able to tell fact from fiction? Are you prepared to quickly guide, advise, and protect your audience in this public health emergency?
  

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Current Updates:

 

• World Health Organization (WHO) – swine flu site
  http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
• Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – swine flu site
  http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm

  http://www.flu.gov

• U.S. government pandemic flu website
  http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

   

• US State Department – travel advisories
  http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html

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Pandemic Planning Resources/Articles:

 

• Ensuring Workforce Continuity During A Pandemic
• Influenza Pandemic Presents Unique Challenges
• Pandemic Planning: Just One Piece of the Program
• Preparing for an Influenza Pandemic
• Swine Flu- Frequently asked questions

Bird Flu Update

The information below comes from The Independent, a news organization in the UK. Although the story was distributed by Reuters, major US news media sources have not yet reported on it. -Ed

Date: Sun 12 Apr 2009
Source: The Independent online [edited]

Infections in Egypt raise scientists’ fears that the virus will be spread by humans. This paradox — emerging from Egypt, the most recent epicentre of the disease — threatens to increase the disease’s ability to spread from person to person by helping it achieve the crucial mutation in the virus which could turn it into the greatest plague to hit Britain since the Black Death. Last year [2009], the government identified the bird-flu virus H5N1 as the biggest threat facing the country, with the potential to kill up to 750 000 Britons.