Pandemic

Pandemic a Latin word meaning all people, it refers to a disease that has infected many people in several counties or on several continents. In recent history Smallpox, HIV, Tuberculosis, H1N1, and the Spanish flu have reached pandemic proportions. The average seasonal flu is not considered a pandemic; however periodically drastic changes in the influenza A virus take place and then the seasonal flu can become a pandemic. This is because the changes in the structure of the Influenza A virus can leave many people with no resistance to the disease, which allows it to spread rapidly and kill more people then would occur from the average seasonal flu. Each virus mutates frequently meaning new vaccines must constantly be created; also a vaccine can only be created once the virus has been identified. Thus in the early stages of Influenza pandemics there are no vaccines. Vaccines can often take six months to produce, and by the time they are produced if the virus is pandemic it is probably spread throughout the globe. Industrialized nations often have contingency plans for pandemics that include contracted vaccine production, stockpiles of medical equipment, and estimations of how many people will need to be hospitalized. An informed population is also helpful to combat a pandemic. If citizens are well informed and prepared before a pandemic occurs then the compound destruction of mobs acting out of fear is minimalized. For this reason the Canadian government provides scenarios for their citizens to practice, or be aware of the potential. The fact is that pandemics occur; it is not a question of if but when? How will your government, community, and you yourself react when the next pandemic hits?