Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
battlefield as quickly as possible created an ideal environment for influenza epidemic
to thrive (byerly 2005). Preoccupied with winning the war, political leaders were
caught off guard by the disease outbreak, and also had little interest in opening
another front to fight the disease. While concerns about morale led to the cover-up
of the spread of the influenza, a series of bond-purchasing activities and parades
only aggravated the epidemical situation in the United States (crosby 2003, 53).
today, political leaders are much more conscious than their predecessors about the
significant new challenges to the security and prosperity of the citizens over which
they preside. as recognised in the United nations High-level Panel report, even
though military conflicts between sovereign states remain a major threat, warfare
predominantly takes the form of intra-state conflicts (i.e., civil wars), which are
closely associated with poverty, environmental degradation, and infectious disease
(Un 2004). Drawing lessons from previous epidemics and natural disasters, policy
makers have attached more importance to public health, which is being elevated
from a 'low politics' issue to something salient on their agenda. Indeed, the Un
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have suggested that health has become a
'pre-eminent
political value
' of 21st-century humanity (Fidler 2005, 184). Political
leaders in many countries have demonstrated strong commitment to preparing for the
next disease outbreak. according to laurie Garrett (2005b), the wHo determined
that by november 2005 about 60 percent of countries had unveiled some type of
pandemic preparation strategy.
with advances in biotechnology and widespread use of antiviral drugs, vaccines,
and other powerful antimicrobials, the ability to combat pandemic influenza appears
to have strengthened. In 1918, these were no antibiotics, no vaccines, no intensive
care—indeed, influenza viruses were not known to exist at that time. It is estimated
that most of the 1918 deaths were from secondary bacterial infections (not viral
pneumonia) that today could be treated effectively by antibiotics (Fumento 2005).
critical gaps nevertheless continue to exist. Many countries do not have
sufficient resources to prepare for an influenza pandemic adequately. Despite the
growing political commitment and the availability of new medicines and treatments,
most countries continue to have weak surge capacity in addressing a pandemic
outbreak. a 2006 survey of 183 U.S. cities found that nearly three quarters were
not prepared to handle an influenza pandemic outbreak (U.S. Conference of Mayors
2006). International production of most vaccines is still based on the technology
from the 1950s, which uses chicken eggs infected with the influenza virus for
vaccine development and production. the existing system of manufacturing vaccine
is fragile (because chickens themselves could be wiped out in a pandemic) and
inefficient (it requires waiting four to six months after the onset of the pandemic,
but an outbreak would have to be contained within three weeks). because of limited
production capacity, with this technology only about 14 percent of the world's
population would be vaccinated within a year of the pandemic (osterholm 2005).
as with antiviral drugs, by october 2005 40 countries had ordered Tamiflu, yet the
orders take considerable time to be processed and delivered. there is a huge gap
between developed and developing countries in terms of the capacity of preparing
