Articles: pandemics.
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The impact of a newly emerged influenza pandemic will depend on its transmissibility and severity. Understanding how these pandemic features impact on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of alternative intervention strategies is important for pandemic planning. ⋯ The most cost effective strategies for mitigating an influenza pandemic involve combining sustained social distancing with the use of antiviral agents. For low severity pandemics the most cost effective strategies involve antiviral treatment, prophylaxis and short durations of school closure; while these are cost effective they are less effective than other strategies in reducing the infection rate.
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J Public Health Manag Pract · Jan 2013
Public health emergency preparedness: lessons learned about monitoring of interventions from the National Association of County and City Health Official's survey of nonpharmaceutical interventions for pandemic H1N1.
We assessed local health departments' (LHDs') ability to provide data on nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) for the mitigation of 2009 H1N1 influenza during the pandemic response. ⋯ Many LHDs were unable to monitor implementation of NPI (recommended by LHD or not) within their community during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. This gap makes it difficult to adjust recommendations or messaging during a public health emergency response. Public health preparedness could be improved by strengthening NPI monitoring capacity.
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Early reports of the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic (pH1N1) indicated that a disproportionate burden of illness fell on First Nations reserve communities. In addition, the impact of the pandemic on different communities may have been influenced by differing provincial policies. We compared hospitalization rates for pneumonia and influenza (P&I) attributable to pH1N1 influenza between residents of First Nations reserve communities and the general population in three Canadian provinces. ⋯ We found an increased risk for pH1N1-related hospital admissions for First Nations communities in all 3 provinces. Interprovincial differences may be partly explained by differences in age structure and socioeconomic status. We were unable to confirm the assumption that remote communities were at higher risk for pH1N1-associated hospitalizations. The aggressive approach to influenza control in remote and isolated First Nations communities in Ontario may have played a role in limiting the impact of pH1N1 on residents of those communities.
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Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online) · Jan 2013
The clinical course of late diagnosed fatal cases of A (H1N1) influenza in Poland.
The most frequent complication of A (H1N1) influenza and the leading cause of death was pneumonia with a primary viral or mixed viral and bacterial etiology. 182 patients had died because of a pandemic influenza in Poland by 31st July 2010. ⋯ Delayed diagnosis and antiviral treatment initiation has a significant impact on mortality in A (H1N1) influenza. During the influenza epidemic, patients presenting typical symptoms should always be suspected of having influenza. Antiviral treatment has to be initiated immediately, especially if there are risk factors of severe disease.