Reid: Threat of flu pandemic is real
Health Secretary John Reid has said that there is a real threat of a global flu pandemic and has insisted that the Government is taking all necessary steps to prepare.
His comments came as the Government published its Pandemic Influenza Contingency Plan following warnings from health experts that a global outbreak of flu is imminent.
Pandemic flu is not like the standard ‘winter flu’ that hits Britain each year, as it is always caused by a new strain of the virus for which there are not yet any vaccines.
The best-known flu pandemic was the ‘Spanish flu’ outbreak in 1918-1919, which killed between 20 and 40 million people, including 250,000 in the UK. Less severe pandemics followed in 1957-1958 and 1968-69.
The Government has decided to stock pile anti-viral drugs which can be used to treat flu, but is insisting it would not be possible to develop a vaccine at the moment.
Speaking at a press conference today, Dr Reid said the Government did not know when the pandemic would happen, but it would definitely happen and there was “no degree of complacency”.
Its impact, both in causing illness and disrupting people’s lives, would be “severe”, he added.
He said that until the particular strain of flu was identified, it was impossible to develop a specific vaccine against it. However, the Government had taken steps to ensure that the vaccine would be developed as quickly as possible once it was identified.
Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said that the UK was “leading the world” in its preparations for a pandemic.
He said that if the avian flu currently affected parts of Asia mixed with an easily transmitted human flu virus, the properties of the two could combine to create a more dangerous and quick-spreading version of influenza.
Sir Liam added that the pandemic was likely to kill 50,000 people.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said that there was more that the Government could do.
He said: “We cannot put the UK in quarantine from the rest of the world. Simply planning to tackle new strains of flu and avian flu when they arrive at our shores misses the point. Prevention is as important as cure, and requires international cooperation to support poorer countries in controlling and containing the spread of flu and infectious diseases.”
