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Thursday, March 2, 2006
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Planning to ward off pandemic begins at home, health-care officials say
Senior Reporter Health-care officials are urging residents at least to think about how they'd handle a global epidemic here at home.
In a bird flu pandemic, the health-care system would be strained to meet the needs of the sickest people. If the worst happens, there could be one hospital bed for every 10 sick people.
The good news is there are things people can do to prepare and to reduce exposure of becoming ill. The influenza pandemic may not arrive this year or the next, but medical officials appear to be of one mind that it will arrive eventually.
Influenza is not a stomach flu. Symptoms include a rapid onset of fever, chills, body aches, sore throat, cough, runny nose and headache. The incubation period for an infected person is one to five days, and people are most infectious 24 hours to 48 hours before they have symptoms.
Pandemic planning
A pandemic is estimated to cause 750,000 Minnesotans to seek medical care, 165,000 may be hospitalized and 30,000 are expected to die.
Preparation suggestions for residents include having supplies at home such as basic medicines to battle a fever, a thermometer, fluids and electrolytes.
People with medical conditions would need to think about having enough diabetic or blood pressure medicines at home.
Recommendations call for a one- to six-week supply of groceries with nonperishable foods like canned fruits and vegetables, juice, vitamins and even comfort food.
For more information for individual and business planning, go online to www.pandemicflu.gov, www.cdc.gov or www.health.state.mn.us and look for the influenza link or search using key words "Minnesota Responds!"
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What's the biggest cause for concern? If the bird flu mutates into a form that readily passes from human to human in the general population, a pandemic seems assured. In today's global movement between countries, the flu would spread quickly.
A five-month warning period is expected between the identification of a new strain and a pandemic event where it spreads worldwide, although that time frame could be shorter. And, while a new strain is expected to start in Asia where populations tend to be more rural and in closer contact with animals, it could start anywhere.
The killer pandemic of most recent memory - the 1918 Spanish flu - killed 20 million to 40 million people worldwide and between 500,000 and 675,000 in the United States. Evidence points to the virus breaking out in Camp Funston, Kan., and spreading as U.S. troops were deployed to fight in World War I. In Minnesota, the Spanish flu spread through the state in a month's time. The bird flu is expected to move even more quickly.
Kathy Zard, quality improvement director/infection control department at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd, said one of the most basic and effective ways to keep from getting sick is to wash hands often or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. All the effort is creating a new term - hand hygiene.
Other effective tools include washing surfaces like work desks and particularly objects several people use, such as keyboards and phones.
Brian Blom, director of occupational health services at Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby, said alcohol-based sanitizers help inhibit the growth of bacteria and viruses.
And mothers had the right answer through the ages as they advised children to cover their mouths when they coughed. Hospitals are asking people to wear face masks if they have a cough. And hand-cleansing stations are numerous in hospitals.
Another option to battle a pandemic is expected to be a harder sell in the workplace.
"We are really going to encourage people to stay home as much as possible," said Jan Jonassen, public health nurse and Crow Wing County preparedness coordinator.
That means calling in sick instead of struggling through at work. For employees, staying home may mean a loss of income. For employers feeling the pressure to continue to function, encouraging people to stay home will be tough.
"That will definitely be the struggle," Blom said, noting even medical employees attempt to work with colds. "Getting people to stay home when they are sick is going to be a challenge."
Options include telecommuting from home. Area hospitals are talking to each other about sharing staff in the region and how they would deal with a surge of people fleeing the metro area and seeking shelter here in their seasonal homes.
In a pandemic, contact with other people is something to avoid. Jonassen said isolation and quarantine would be used to slow the spread of the flu.
For Zard, the best advise to residents is not to stick their heads in the sand, but to be self educated.
"There are a tremendous amount of resources out there for you," Zard said. "Our goal is to plan and hope it never happens and plan and educate so it reduces risk."
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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