Costa Rican
President Urges Calm, Asks Pharmaceutical
Not To Gouge Prices
Costa Rica Bans Kissing; Mexico Asks
Population To Stay Indoors; Russia Bans
Import of US Pork
Suspected
Cases of Swine Flu in Costa Rica Climbs To
60
Costa Rica Sets Aside $5 Million To Combat
Swine Flu; WHO Raises Alert To "5"
Turrialba
Seeks To Be Premiere Mountain Tourism
Destination
Guanacaste Blooms With Culture In April and
May
Costa Rica
Sets Aside $5 Million To Combat Swine Flu;
WHO Raises Alert To "5"
The Costa Rican government, in declaring a
national emergency on Tuesday, has set aside
us$5 million dollars to deal with a possible
pandemic outbreak of the swine flu. Two
cases of swine flu have been confirmed and
60 suspected in Costa Rica.
The announcement of the national emergency
and funds followed the World Health
Organization (WHO) raising its alter level
to 3 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the WHO
raised the alert to 5, one notch below a
pandemic.
In nature, influenza viruses circulate
continuously among animals, especially
birds. Even though such viruses might
theoretically develop into pandemic viruses,
in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among
animals have been reported to cause
infections in humans.
In Phase 2 an animal influenza virus
circulating among domesticated or wild
animals is known to have caused infection in
humans, and is therefore considered a
potential pandemic threat.
In Phase 3, an animal or human-animal
influenza reassortant virus has caused
sporadic cases or small clusters of disease
in people, but has not resulted in
human-to-human transmission sufficient to
sustain community-level outbreaks. Limited
human-to-human transmission may occur under
some circumstances, for example, when there
is close contact between an infected person
and an unprotected caregiver. However,
limited transmission under such restricted
circumstances does not indicate that the
virus has gained the level of
transmissibility among humans necessary to
cause a pandemic.
Phase 4 is characterized by verified
human-to-human transmission of an animal or
human-animal influenza reassortant virus
able to cause “community-level outbreaks.”
The ability to cause sustained disease
outbreaks in a community marks a significant
upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic.
Any country that suspects or has verified
such an event should urgently consult with
WHO so that the situation can be jointly
assessed and a decision made by the affected
country if implementation of a rapid
pandemic containment operation is warranted.
Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in
risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily
mean that a pandemic is a forgone
conclusion.
Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human
spread of the virus into at least two
countries in one WHO region. While most
countries will not be affected at this
stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a
strong signal that a pandemic is imminent
and that the time to finalize the
organization, communication, and
implementation of the planned mitigation
measures is short.
Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is
characterized by community level outbreaks
in at least one other country in a different
WHO region in addition to the criteria
defined in Phase 5. Designation of this
phase will indicate that a global pandemic
is under way.
During the post-peak period, pandemic
disease levels in most countries with
adequate surveillance will have dropped
below peak observed levels. The post-peak
period signifies that pandemic activity
appears to be decreasing; however, it is
uncertain if additional waves will occur and
countries will need to be prepared for a
second wave.
Previous pandemics have been characterized
by waves of activity spread over months.
Once the level of disease activity drops, a
critical communications task will be to
balance this information with the
possibility of another wave. Pandemic waves
can be separated by months and an immediate
“at-ease” signal may be premature.
In the post-pandemic period, influenza
disease activity will have returned to
levels normally seen for seasonal influenza.
It is expected that the pandemic virus will
behave as a seasonal influenza A virus. At
this stage, it is important to maintain
surveillance and update pandemic
preparedness and response plans accordingly.
An intensive phase of recovery and
evaluation may be required.
|
|
|
|
|
