Flu contingency plans being drawn up

The Health Division is in the process of setting up a committee to prepare detailed sub-plans for the implementation of a National Influenza Pandemic Plan.

Charmaine Gauci, the principal medical officer in charge of the disease surveillance unit within the Public Health Department, said the committee's work will include the preparation of contingency plans for communication systems as well as vaccine and antiviral availability.

A National Influenza Pandemic Plan was drafted some months ago to serve as a guideline for the health authorities in case an influenza pandemic occurs. The National Influenza Pandemic Plan was drawn up by a committee made up of a number of experts. It was approved by Health Minister Louis Deguara and the director general of health Ray Busuttil.

Dr Gauci explained that the plan deals with various stages of an influenza pandemic according to the level of alerts set out by the World Health Organisation. The plan outlines the stages and indicates the measures to be taken at every stage of alert.

The disease surveillance unit keeps tabs on the international influenza situation and also analyses the local situation through a sentinel surveillance system whereby a number of doctors across the islands report the cases of influenza they come across. This gives the unit a picture of the influenza situation in Malta and, in case of a pandemic, action can start being taken according to the national plan.

Dr Gauci explained that nobody knows when another influenza pandemic will hit the world but the plan is there to have us prepared just in case a pandemic occurs. The new committee will be working on testing, reviewing and revising the existing plan.

According to the WHO an influenza pandemic takes place when there is a new influenza virus against which the human population does not have immunity. This can result in several, simultaneous epidemics worldwide, with enormous numbers of deaths and illness.

Medical communities throughout the world are keeping their eyes open amidst fears that the avian flu virus could mutate in such a way as to spread easily from person to person, making the possibility of a pandemic more likely.

The 1918-1919 Spanish flu outbreak had killed up to 40 million people around the world.