There are medicines, called antivirals, approved for use in the U.S. to prevent and treat flu. These “antiviral” medicines fight many kinds of flu. Health experts think antivirals could provide some protection against pandemic flu but it will depend on the virus. Antivirals are most effective when used as soon as possible after symptoms appear. The federal government has a national stockpile of antiviral medicines. Despite the stockpiling effort, there may not be enough for everyone.

Antiviral drugs may help prevent infection in people at risk and lessen the impact of symptoms in those infected with influenza. It is unlikely that they would substantially modify the course or effectively contain the spread of an influenza pandemic.

These drugs must be started within the first 48 hours of infection in order to help shorten the duration and lessen the severity of disease. Individual flu strains can mutate and become resistant to the drugs. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) analysis of the H5N1 strains from Asia have shown resistance to amantadine and rimantadine. This means that if the current H5N1 avian flu causes a pandemic, only oseltamivir and zanamivir can be used to treat it.

Pandemic influenza is a worldwide outbreak of flu caused by a new flu virus that people have not been exposed to before. Because our bodies would have no resistance to this new virus, it could spread quickly from person to person and cause serious illness.

No one can predict when, or if, a flu pandemic might occur. Previous influenza pandemics (such as ones in 1918, 1957, and 1968) resulted in large numbers of illness and death. Many government organizations and businesses are developing plans for coping with a pandemic since preparedness is the best strategy. H5N1 was identified in 1996/1997, and has yet to mutate to a strain that is easily transmissible from human to human.

A pandemic occurs when a disease spreads rapidly, affecting most countries and regions of the world. Flu pandemics have occurred periodically throughout human history – including a major pandemic in 1918, and smaller pandemics in 1957 and 1968. The symptoms of pandemic flu are similar to those of seasonal flu but are usually more severe. Bird flu or H5N1 is a flu virus circulating in Southeast Asia, Europe and now Africa, that usually affects birds but also has infected people.

Anyone could get sick from pandemic flu. This is a new virus, to which no one is immune. However, about half of those who are infected can expect to have no symptoms ? called asymptomatic infection.

Antiviral drugs such a Tamiflu ® are helpful in treating regular influenza symptoms and in lessening the potential for severe complications.

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing or cough into your upper sleeve, not your hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for 20 seconds or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner.

They are better prepared than ever. Contingency plans are in place in case they need more room for patients. Like everyone, hospitals need to continue to prepare and plan.

Flu viruses have the ability to change or mutate, and any flu virus can mutate into a new form that easily infects people, spreads rapidly from person to person and causes serious illness. If this happens, we will not have a vaccine for this new virus and a pandemic could result.

Maintaining good personal hygiene, such as washing your hands to prevent spreading the virus from your hands to your face

Any Pandemic Flu will be managed on a multi-agency basis using the Surrey Major Incident Plan (copies can be found on the Surrey County Council website) Avian Flu ("Bird Flu") is a contagious disease of birds caused by influenza A viruses. The infection of humans is very rare. In the last 2 years there have been less than 120 cases worldwide and these have all been in South East Asia.

No. An influenza virus that is new, or one that hasn't been around for many years causes a pandemic. The type of flu we have each season will vary, but these strains have been around and our bodies are more able to cope with them. Seasonal flu bugs cannot cause a pandemic.

Probably not. But there are many unknowns involved, making accurate prediction impossible. Bird flu is still a bird disease. The H5N1 bird flu in Asia and Europe does not spread well from person-to-person. The first is a "reassortment event", in which a person is infected with a human flu and the bird flu virus at the same time. Genetic material is exchanged between the human and avian viruses during this co-infection, and a human version of bird flu emerges.

No one can predict when a pandemic will occur, or how fast it will spread across the world. More information on global surveillance activities. In Rhode Island, it is estimated that up to 30% of the Rhode Island population might become sick in a few weeks. In a very severe pandemic, many infected people might die. The demand for healthcare services will significantly increase, and the number of healthcare workers may be reduced at any given time.

Flu viruses are constantly changing, producing new strains. Flu pandemics occur when a virus emerges that is so different from previous strains that few, if any people have immunity. This allows it to spread widely and rapidly, potentially affecting millions of people worldwide. The new virus may be the result of an animal virus, usually from a bird, mixing with a human virus to produce a new strain.

Three pandemics have occurred in the last 90 years, in 1918, 1957 and 1968. Scientists predict that another pandemic will happen, although they can't say exactly when. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has compiled a summary of the pandemics and "pandemic scares" that have occurred in the last 100 years.

During a pandemic you're more likely to catch it than seasonal flu because it spreads rapidly and very few people will have immunity. Everyone will be at risk. Some groups of people may be more at risk than others, but every pandemic is different, so until the virus starts spreading it is very difficult to predict who these groups might be.

Vaccines against bird flu are already being made and tested. Experts are also testing new ways of making vaccine quickly. If pandemic flu occurs, we’ll need a vaccine for the specific virus causing the pandemic. Flu viruses change constantly so there’s little time to prepare a vaccine in advance. This new virus would be different from the current bird flu virus. So although it's possible we may have a bird flu vaccine, it's also possible it may not work on the pandemic flu virus.

In a pandemic, there will not be enough antiviral medicine for everyone to prevent the flu. There may not be enough medicine to treat everyone who gets sick with influenza. There will also not be enough flu vaccine, even after an effective vaccine is developed.

A pandemic flu virus is a novel flu virus to which the population has very little or no immunity. This explains why it is able to spread widely.

To put it simply, avian flu affects birds, and a pandemic flu would affect people. It is a bit more complicated than that, but the important thing to know is that just because birds are sick doesn't mean there is a health risk to humans. It is very likely that wild birds in San Juan County will be infected with avian flu someday. It is much more uncertain as to whether the avian flu virus will mutate to where it can easily spread from person to person and become a pandemic flu strain.