For most of us, a coughing family member, neighbor or co-worker may seem innocent enough. While it’s appropriate for us to take evasive action and steer clear of the germs, the folks at the Center for Disease Control are paying even closer attention as we head into the active flu season.
Could that first sniffle or cough trigger an avalanche of illness with potentially catastrophic consequences or is it a case of the seasonal flu? Fortunately, they’re preparing for either option — shipping vials of vaccine for the garden variety flu bug and mobilizing their forces to deploy in the event of a bigger, more serious flu pandemic.
As they monitor and assess the scope of active viruses worldwide, they need to be constantly vigilant about the potential for a serious deadly outbreak which could cripple both health care and commerce.
Historically, there’s a great deal of evidence to justify their concern — three epic flu pandemics in the past century. The Spanish flu of 1918 sickened up to 40 percent of the planet’s population — killing over 20 million people. The Asian Flu of 1957 resulted in over 70,000 deaths in the U.S. alone and the Hong Kong Flu in 1968 affected 5 million Americans — killing nearly 34,000. While not a world-wide pandemic, the SARS outbreak in 2003 quickly spread to two dozen countries before it was contained, offering some insight into the potential for a serious global health crisis.
Given the similarities in initial symptoms between a simple seasonal flu bug and a raging flu pandemic — including coughing, sore throat, runny nose, aches and fever — the ability of health care providers to differentiate between the two and respond quickly is essential to the health of our community.
While the symptoms may be the same, the origin of the bug is the key difference. Seasonal flu bugs are mostly caused by known viruses, often with existing vaccines aimed at preventing them from passing quickly in the human population. The frightening pandemic flu is much more serious due to the lack of human resistance or immunity and the unpredictable, renegade nature of the unknown viral mutation.
Tempering this scary reality is the fact that we have a focused team of health officials tracking the situation. As individuals, we need to wash our hands, cover our mouths with a tissue when we cough and avoid spreading germs to other people when we’re feeling under the weather.
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