Pandemic influenza
May. 10th, 2009 10:54 pmPandemic influenza is something that happens at regular intervals, we are overdue for a pandemic and have been for a number of years (the last one was 1968, before that there was one in 1957 and one in 1918). Whether the current swine 'flu is what becomes a pandemic remains to be seen - we still haven't got enough evidence yet. It might be the one, or it might be some other strain of avian or swine or other 'flu in a number of years time.
It's quite difficult to predict exactly what the effects of a pandemic will be. There are places on the internet where people are talking about stockpiling enough to isolate themselves from the world for six months or so as an appropriate pandemic-preparedness strategy. I don't think the effects will be so severe as to cause a breakdown of law and order or that the appropriate response is to isolate onself for six months or that the cost/benefit analysis of preparing to have six months worth of stuff stockpiled works in one's favour.
A lot of what's out on the internet about pandemic preparedness is premised on the idea that people don't live alone and this is not particularly useful for me and in general isn't very good as there are a relatively high propotion of people living alone than there would have been in previous pandemics. So what I'm going to talk about here is pandemic preparedness for those of us who live alone - specifically how it's different from that which applies to people who don't live alone.
( Read more... )
It's quite difficult to predict exactly what the effects of a pandemic will be. There are places on the internet where people are talking about stockpiling enough to isolate themselves from the world for six months or so as an appropriate pandemic-preparedness strategy. I don't think the effects will be so severe as to cause a breakdown of law and order or that the appropriate response is to isolate onself for six months or that the cost/benefit analysis of preparing to have six months worth of stuff stockpiled works in one's favour.
A lot of what's out on the internet about pandemic preparedness is premised on the idea that people don't live alone and this is not particularly useful for me and in general isn't very good as there are a relatively high propotion of people living alone than there would have been in previous pandemics. So what I'm going to talk about here is pandemic preparedness for those of us who live alone - specifically how it's different from that which applies to people who don't live alone.
( Read more... )
