What is the role of Communication over PANDEMIA

The communication strategies make up an important component for the management of all outbreaks of infectious diseases and they are essential in the case of a pandemic. Exact and timely information at all levels is fundamental for reducing to a minimum the undesired and unforseen social disruption, and the economic consequences and maximizing the efficiency of the responses result”.

Communication: implied in all institutional sector activities, even if no specific political institutions are constituted.

What is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic ?

Epidemics and pandemics refer to the spread of infectious diseases among a population. The difference between an epidemic and a pandemic is two-fold. First a pandemic is normally used to indicate a far higher number of people affected than an epidemic, and a pandemic refers to a much larger region affected. In the most extreme case, the global population is affected by a pandemic.An epidemic is defined by an illness or health-related issue that is showing up in more cases than would be normally expected.
However, in the case of a pandemic, even more of the population is affected than in an epidemic.
Let's take a hypothetical example and assume several people contract the same flu-like symptoms in a particular area. Let's further assume that cases show up across the state, but the concentration remains localized in a few original cities.
Some cases even turn up elsewhere in the nation, but the illness doesn't catch on elsewhere.
In the hubs where it is seen the infection rate remains more than you would expect to normally see.
This is a classic example of an epidemic.Now let's take that same scenario but imagine the rate of infection started growing exponentially so that more and more cases were cropping up locally. When the rate of infection grows very fast it is likely, given favorable circumstances, that the epidemic grows into something more.
Now we start seeing cases across the nation and the rate of infection is exceeding even that of an epidemic. It turns out in our hypothetical scenario that most of the population in the nation becomes affected by this flu. This is a pandemic.

We must remember that this is a global phenomenon.
Communication: gradually start occupying this space. Introduction to languages and other practices (advertising marketing, as an example).

Health Education: intermediation practices between services and the population

Pandemic imminence change in perspective about the function of communication in institutional spaces.
A pandemic is a global outbreak of a serious disease that exceeds the "normal" levels of mortality and infection levels for typical disease. In this regard, the definition of a pandemic is partially subjective, but in most cases, the difference between the normal background state and a pandemic state is strikingly obvious. Throughout history, pandemics have been the worst killers of human beings, killing more people than all wars and accidents in modern history combined. Only in the last 90 years or so does it seem that historical pandemics are mostly under control, although the HIV virus, which emerged in the 1980s, has killed millions, and continues to be a serious problem to this day. Historically, the largest pandemics have been due to smallpox, influenza, cholera, typhus, and bubonic plague. The greatest pandemic in history is often cited as the Black Death (thought to be bubonic plague), which claimed 75 million lives and killed about a third of the population of Europe and China in the late 1340s. Recovery took more than a generation. The native Americans and native Australians were fortunate that these populations were disconnected from those of Africa and Eurasia at the time. The Black Death was spread by infected rats. Another massive pandemic, the Spanish flu, spread worldwide in 1918, immediately after WWI, killing 50-100 million people and rivaling the intensity of the Black Death.
This flu was unusual in that it killed people in the prime of their lives rather than just the old or infants.
Deaths are thought to have been caused by cytokine storms, a hyperactive immune system response that leads to the death of the organism it is meant to protect. In a cytokine storm, immune cells clog the body so rapidly that they do even more damage than the flu itself.When they occur, pandemics have radically altered the course of history and changed world events.
If the Black Death had not occurred in Europe, economic and technological progress might have been accelerated and Columbus may have reached the Americas as much as a hundred years earlier.
Today, many governments fear a new pandemic caused by a mutation of the avian flu, and hundreds of millions of doses of immunization shots have been stockpiled.


The need to plan institutional communication actions, identify and/ or adapt existing ones.

Expectations:
That communication should contribute to tasks like:
Inform without creating panic
Expose limitations without expressing insecurity
Suggest possibilities without guaranteeing results.



Warn about the most likely, recognizing a possible mistake
Manage risk, fear, alertness in an uncertain context

In late April, an outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 Influenza, commonly called "swine flu", was detected in Mexico City. The initial spread of the virus appeared to be rapid - that, coupled with several deaths of young, otherwise healthy flu victims raised global awareness and initial alarm. As of today, Mexico has confirmed over 800 infections and 42 deaths resulting from H1N1 - 22 countries worldwide now have reported 1,516 cases of influenza A (H1N1). Recent reports have been more restrained, however, with no apparent evience of a pandemic, milder-than-expected flu symptoms, and a rate of infection only slightly higher than a normal seasonal flu. Collected here are photographs of people in Mexico and around the world dealing with H1N1 or or preparing for possible encounters

At a press conference the spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Carlos Olmos Tomasini said that the three deaths released by the government of Jalisco are probable, are not confirmed and acknowledged that Mexico has a sample of work equipment, society and government, united against this contingency.
The representative of Health, acknowledged that "this phenomenon has already influenced the epidemiological changes in all of us in our perception of the environment and lifestyle."
He emphasized that this is a global phenomenon, which has continued the work of the hands of multinational experts from WHO, U.S. CDC, the Canadian Public Health Laboratory and microbiological Canada.
Olmos Tomasini response acknowledged that the large mature and responsible of Mexican society, each in its field, is resulting in the containment and mitigation of the disease, but said that should not lower our guard.
The spokesman for updated figures for the H1N1 influenza:
5580 tests 1626 had positive 1578 patients alive 48 deaths

The conference concluded by thanking the education sector, business, the cameras and labor union for their understanding and support for implementing preventive health measures for the gradual start of activities.

Swine flu is a type of influenza virus which is endemic in pig populations. Like other members of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses which cause influenza, this virus has a very high mutation rate, recombining with other subtypes of swine flu in addition to flu viruses which infect other animals, such as humans and birds.
When swine flu acquires genetic material from avian and human influenzas, it came become zoonotic, which means that it will cross between species.
Two genera of influenza, Influenza A and Influenza B, are seen in pigs. In some regions, as many as 50% of pigs are infected, and different subtypes of flu evolve in different areas of the world.

The versions of swine flu seen in European pigs, for example, are different from those observed in pigs in Asia. Common Influenza A subtypes seen in pigs include: H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, and H3N2. Occasionally, humans who work closely with pigs will develop influenza infection as a result of close contact, but the virus will not spread further, because the virus can normally only be passed from pigs to people, not from person to person.
Swine flu is not spread by eating pork, even in cases when the virus mutates and becomes dangerous to humans.In very rare cases, swine flu can evolve so that it can spread from person to person, or from swine to birds to people, creating the risk of a flu epidemic or even a pandemic.
This almost occurred in 1976, when a soldier at Fort Dix in the United States sickened and died as a result of swine flu infection, creating fears that a major outbreak of flu might occur.
The United States rushed to create an appropriate vaccine and embarked on a mass vaccination program, but the flu failed to spread, and the hasty formulation of a vaccine was later blamed for numerous adverse reactions to vaccination.

The government response to the situation in 1976 was termed a “fiasco” by many members of the media, illustrating the difficult position public health officials are in.
If they observe the signs of an epidemic and they fail to act, they will be criticized for not doing anything if the disease becomes a major problem, but if officials sense that an epidemic may occur and take preventative action only to see that nothing occurs, they will be condemned for wasting money and frightening the public.

When swine flu mutates so that it can be passed from person to person, it can be spread through droplets in the air such as those spread by coughing, and through contact with contaminated surfaces like doorknobs and counters.

People are capable of spreading the virus before symptoms emerge, and for several days after they are treated and the flu is resolved.

The symptoms of swine influenza are similar to those of other seasonal flus: fatigue, joint pain, nausea, runny nose, altered level of consciousness, and fever have all been documented in patients with strains of influenza which come from pigs.Human flu vaccines are not effective against swine influenza, because the strains included in the human flu vaccine are not the same. In the event of a swine flu outbreak, health agencies would need to act quickly to type the virus and develop an effective vaccine.
Fortunately, this flu is very responsive to numerous antibiotics when treatment is offered shortly after signs of infection emerge, and public officials are on high alert for potential flu pandemics after the lessons of the devastating 1918 and 1968 flu outbreaks, which means that the public would quickly be alerted to a suspected swine flu outbreak in the early stages.In April 2009, the Mexican government reported cases of swine influenza in Mexico City, and began to take measures to address a potential pandemic.
Cases were also reported in the United States, and a health emergency was declared so that the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and other government agencies could initiate a response to the disease.

When cases which can be spread from person to person such as those seen in this outbreak are documented, people can protect themselves from the risk of catching the flu by washing their hands regularly, drinking lots of fluids, and avoiding large gatherings in and travel to areas with high numbers of documented cases.
People should also seek medical treatment promptly if they develop flu symptoms, and they should comply with recommendations issued by public officials.People should not stockpile antibiotics against a flu outbreak, as they may be using the drugs incorrectly, which could contribute to the spread of drug resistance.

Instead, patients who think that they are infected should visit a medical center for treatment and a prescription, and they should fully finish the course of antibiotics prescribed.