Preparing for an Emergency

Being prepared is important. News coverage on Sept.11.2001, and more recently, On Hurricane Katrina has proven how difficult it is to predict the future. Recently we have been hearing the word "Pandemic" as something for which we should be prepared for. Now let me define pandemic for those who do not know the word or its meaning.

A pandemic is a global outbreak of disease that occurs when a new virus appears or "emerges" in the human population, causes serious illness, and then spreads easily from person to person worldwide. Pandemics are different from seasonal outbreaks or "epidemics" of influenza. Seasonal outbreaks are caused by subtypes of influenza viruses that already circulate among people, whereas pandemic outbreaks are caused by new subtypes, by subtypes that have never circulated among people, or by subtypes that have not circulated among people for a long time.

Influenza usually comes on suddenly, starting with a sore throat, fever, headache and profound fatigue, followed by dry cough, body aches, and possibly nausea/vomiting. There are three main types of influenza viruses: A, B, C. Influenza pandemic is most likely when the Influenza Type A virus makes a dramatic change (antigenic shift). This shift results in a new or Novel "virus" to which the general population has no immunity. The appearance of the Novel virus is the first step toward a pandemic. We all know we can't control the spread of a pandemic we can prepare for an emergency by starting with the basics. Now that doesn't mean go out and buy up as many caned goods and such like items.