Get The Flu Facts
Currently, a virulent flu strain, H5N1, is causing a pandemic among migratory birds and poultry flocks around the world.
This virus is getting attention and raising concern because humans lack immunity to it. It has infected a limited number of humans who have had extremely close contact with infected fowl. The H5N1 virus has not yet developed the ability to pass easily from person to person and cause outbreaks in humans. It may never do so.
No one can say with any certainty when a pandemic will occur or how severe it will be, or if H5N1 or some other novel flu virus will spark the next pandemic.
What public health experts do know with certainty is that, like hurricanes and earthquakes, pandemics happen. Many scientists observe that we are long overdue for the next global flu outbreak
That is why governments around the world and here in the U.S. are preparing for a pandemic and asking all sectors of society – businesses, schools, faith-based organizations, the medical community – to prepare now for a health emergency that might result in infection rates of 30 percent in the general population and workplace absenteeism rates that may reach 40 percent for a period of months.
There are steps every American can and should take to prepare for a pandemic flu. Some of these are steps that should be taken to prepare for other types of public health emergencies, so doing them now in preparation for a pandemic flu could benefit you in other situations as well.
Key Differences Between Annual Flu and Pandemic Flu
Invite your friends to learn more about pandemic flu and how to get prepared.