The ability of the virus to spread rapidly and across geographic areas prompted the pandemic alert from the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Pate said, but he pointed out that the public was led to believe the threat level had to do with the severity of the flu-virus. “Communication aspects [about the virus] could have been handled better,” he told reporters attending an influenza workshop in Kingston, Jamaica recently.
As of January 17, this year, more than 209 countries, overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1, including at least 14,000 deaths. However, Dr Pate reported that the flu-virus has been mild because many of the persons who were infected recovered. He said most infections are self-limited, meaning people recover without medication or needing hospitalization.
Guyana has confirmed 32 cases of H1N1with just around 70 persons being treated for the flu-virus, no deaths were recorded. In the Caribbean, deaths were reported in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Suriname, Jamaica, St. Kitts and St Lucia.
Dr Pate was adamant the WHO was not “swayed by pharmaceuticals” when it decided to raise the flu alert. He said the international body cautions against over-simplifying the disease as mild “though it has been so far”. He argued also that pharmaceuticals are not making huge profits as it believed saying that many companies had considered going out of business.
The information being disseminated to the public on the virus should have been explained, Dr Pate said, admitting too that the word pandemic sets off alarm bells. “It was a lesson learnt for us all,” he added while indicating that the WHO is currently reviewing how it handled the crisis.
The response time by health officials during a public health crisis is important and impacts on how a disease is spread, Dr Pate noted. He said vaccines are likely to be limited, particularly during the initial stages of any crisis because a period is required for vaccines to be manufactured. However, he said it is important to utilize drugs which are available.
Tamiflu, which is in stock here, was the only antiviral proven to have had an effect on H1N1, according to Dr Pate. He said the drugs can be effective, but cautioned that resistance patterns are developing. He emphasized that since vaccines are limited, countries should prioritize groups to vaccinate, but “it would be based on the country’s main objectives”.
Dan Rutz, a Communication Specialist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, questioned what people with doubts “about the WHO pandemic alert” would rather have them do. He said H1N1 was spreading with unprecedented speed and had posed a real threat, but has since been classified as mild based on the percentage of deaths recorded among the infected.
Rutz argued that the pandemic alert was “necessary” because public health officials felt the need to be prepared. “What if it had turned out to be severe?” he asked, saying there was no predicting what could have happened during the initial stages of the flu-virus.
