What Is A Pandemic Anyway?

This pandemic word has been getting tossed around a bunch in the media lately. Ever since the World Health Organiztion started raising the pandemic alert level back in April of 2009 the media started tossing the P word out there like it was a bad cliche or a Geiko commercial. But what is a pandemic anyway? What makes one disease a pandemic and another one a run of the mill epidemic?

To answer that question lets start with that other, over-used media phrase “epidemic“.

Epidemics are all about predictability. (Not rate of spread or numbers of individuals effected.) So lets say you’re a run of the mill influenza virus and you’re off doing your seasonal influenza thing. The Centers for Disease Control may predict that you’ll infect 8.2-12.9% of the population this year.

To become an epidemic you need to beat your numbers. You need to outperform your statistical curve. Step up big time and infect 14% of the population and you too may be granted the status of “flu epidemic”.

Pandemics are a bit different. Pandemics need to meet a few more criteria before they get dubbed pandemic.

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The EMT Guide To Swine Flu

By now, you’ve most likely heard the reports of a possible swine flu pandemic and maybe you’ve even fielded a few questions from concerned friends and neighbors. As always, The EMT Spot aims to keep you updated on what you need to know to do your job safely.

The latest strain of swine flu is an influenza type A virus. (H1N1) These viruses emerge from the shared pool of influenza viruses that occasionally transfer from birds (avian flu), to humans (common flu), to pigs (swine flu). Each time we trade these viruses back and forth between humans and animals, the viruses have an opportunity to mutate. The new strains may be more contagious than the last and may respond differently to antivirals. (But not necessarily.) Currenty the CDC is recomending Oseltamivir and Zanamivir for this strain of virus.

As of today the virus has killed 68 people in Mexico and sickened over one thousand more. Now the illness has jumped the boarder and appears to be spreading fairly rapidly across the U.S. At the time of this writing 20 cases have been confirmed by the CDC within the U.S. starting in California and moving to Texas. The list of confirmed cases now includes New York, Kansas and Ohio.

What to look for in your patients

Swine flu presents like a common respiratory influenza. Patients will present with common flu symptoms that can vary significantly in severity from one person to the next. Look for productive or dry cough, fever, chills, body aches, sore throat and fatigue. There have been some reports of GI symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea.

Swine flu may precipitate significant respiratory distress, especially in patients with underlying respiratory conditions or those with compromised immune systems like HIV patients and patients receiving chemotherapy.

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