America's North Shore Journal

The WHO is set to announce offi­cially that novel H1N1 or swine flu has reached offi­cial pan­demic sta­tus. That is a phase six. This is the first influenza pan­demic since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.

A pan­demic dec­la­ra­tion is based on the spread of the ill­ness and not nec­es­sar­ily upon how deadly it is. Of the four influenza pan­demics in mod­ern times, 1918 Span­ish Flu, the 1957 Asian Flu and the 1968 Hong Kong Flu, this out­break appears to be the mildest. That could change but for now we have an influenza pan­demic from a mild strain.

This dec­la­ra­tion puts national gov­ern­ments on the spot. Most have pre­pared a pan­demic flu plan with the steps that they would take when a pan­demic is declared. For many nations, this means expen­di­ture of money and resources they do not have. As with many inter­na­tional agree­ments, the wealth­ier coun­tries are far read­ier and able to comply.

The United States plan can be found at PandemicFlu.gov. The plan pro­vides for even­tu­al­i­ties such as a very deadly ill­ness that might require inter­nal travel restric­tions and quarantines.

The Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol (CDC) are your best source for author­i­ta­tive infor­ma­tion about influenza, swine flu, and the steps you should be taking.