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Back to main news pageLeeds conference addresses pandemic and business security issues
Swine Flu – is this the calm before the storm? That was the question raised by a leading expert in pandemics speaking at a Reliance Security Services conference in Leeds today.
David Hutcheson, Managing Director of Perth-based Business Continuity specialists, Glen Abbot was keen to dispel many of the myths surrounding the recent H1N1 Influenza outbreak.
David stated that Pandemic Flu is currently the number one risk on the UK Government Risk Register and went on to discuss the other outbreaks of normal inter-pandemic period of 39 and 42 years. It is 41 years since the last pandemic, known as ‘Hong Kong flu’ which caused over one million deaths in 1968. The ‘Asian flu’ outbreak in 1957-8 caused another one million deaths worldwide.
This current flu outbreak is very similar to the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 but not as virulent although young people have been hit particularly hard as they were 91 years ago. Spanish flu was quickly spread by soldiers who contracted the virus then travelled back to their homelands and spread the virus amongst their population.
The appearance of swine flu was not a surprise. It was known that pigs were likely to be the source of any potential pandemic as they are able to host viruses that affect humans and birds. Around 12,000 people die of seasonal flu every year in the UK and between 35,000 and 50,000 in the US.
In David’s view, this particular strain of flu will be back in October and future waves could be more severe; future waves could last as long as 15 weeks. A vaccination to the virus will take around six months to formulate while Tamiflu and Relenza will only reduce the affects of the virus to between 2-3 days and should be taken within 48 hours of the first symptoms of influenza. David stated that chicken and pork are still very safe to eat as all signs of the virus will disappear once the product is cooked at over 160 degrees.