Kenneth Miller
((second post since I missed one last week))
3:50
10/24/08
The world is said to be well prepared for a major influenza flu pandemic with 148 countries having a planned contingency method to deal with the disease infection and spread according to the U.N. This word wide preparedness is a major development considering how unprepared the world was merely three years ago, however more needs to be done to ensure we are ready for a global catastrophe, said the UN system influenza coordinator. The world bank in a joint announcement claimed the avian influenza pandemic could cast loses of 3 trillion dollars to the economy, which is roughly 5% of the GDP.If a mild outbreak of the strain occurred it would be believed to cause 1.4 million death world wide, where a sever out break could cause 70 million. Government ministers have also been meeting in Egypt to discuss future actions against avian flu outbreaks. Only 4 infected cases were reported to have occurred last year, having jumped from animals to humans, and no major countries have reported outbreaks in the first 9 months of 08. Avian flu has killed 245 people world wide since the virus detection. The infections occurred in middle eastern countries and parts of Asia, however the situations in these regions has improved greatly.
Its good to see there is a more active plan of action and overall awareness among nations regarding the possibility of a flu outbreak. To believe that something like a flu could kill as many as 70 million world wide in an outbreak is staggering and frightening, especially for more dense regions of the world where disease spreads like wild fire. I have faith in the UN in handling this issue as it had gotten much attention of recent. The economic impact however is quite damaging. Truly I had never really considered the fiscal impact a disease and its contingency plan could make. I guess despite the monetary loses, it's better to be out a few bucks and safe rather than saving those few buck and a having a few million die.
1 comment:
I'm surprised, too. I'd never really seriously considered the flu a danger. Granted, bird flu was all over the news years back and then it was a big deal, but it was like most 'news fads'- something happened, and then the news sorta dropped it when it wasn't a huge issue anymore. So it's an eye-opener to think that it's still such a big issue in the world today. Clearly I need to do a better job of keeping up with world news.
Post a Comment