by Bruce Ziebarth

Created on: June 22, 2010   Last Updated: June 23, 2010

During the 2009 flu season, the world faced H1N1 Influenza. H1N1 was commonly known as Swine Flu because it moved from swine into humans. H1N1 quickly moved from it's swine origins to human-to-human transmission. This caused governments across the globe to ramp up for a large scale Pandemic. Now that we are through the 2009 flu season, we can examine the world wide swine flu facts over what was expected.

H1N1 influenza was a Pandemic. Medicinenet.com defines Pandemic as, “An epidemic (a sudden outbreak) that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), H1N1 has affected every continent on the globe. Currently, H1N1 is still affecting countries worldwide.

H1N1 did not go away. Once an influenza strand mutates then it is here to stay. It is true that humans can build up an immunity. Successful vaccinations can reduce the strands severity. However, this does not mean that H1N1 has went away. During the 2009 influenza season, H1N1 stayed in the news daily. Once the United States's influenza season passed then media went on to other stories. This does not mean that H1N1 will not affect the 2010 flu season.

We must learn from the 2009 flu season. Even though states possessed Pandemic Influenza plans, vaccines were not readily available for some time. This caused people to become very concerned and even isolated panic. It is crucial that we learn from these lessons. We need better ways to produce vaccines quickly. Governments, at all levels, need to increase their ability to quickly and effectively disseminate public information.

Public information is the critical lesson that should be taken from the 2009 flu season. For decades, United States has faced and dealt with earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, and floods. Our emergency management systems are used to dealing with these situations. Pandemics do not occur as often. Pandemics require our health departments to take the lead. A position many of them are not used to. The majority of United States citizens are used to leaving medical decisions to their doctor. If health officials cannot quickly disseminate useable information then people are left to find their own information.

These are only a few lessons that can be learned from the 2009 flu season. Yet, these are important lessons. While we hope it does not happen for a while, we will eventually face another pandemic. If we learn how to better respond to a pandemic then the 2009 flu season was a success. If we move on to the next disaster without making changes then we all lose.

References
Definition of Pandemic. n.d. Medicinenet.com. Retrieved on June 21, 2010 from http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlek ey=4751
Global Update on Pandemic (H1N1) 2009. 2010. World Health Organization. Retrieved on June 21, 2010 from http://gamapserver.who.int/h1n1/qualitative_indicato rs/atlas.html?indicator=i0&date=Week%2022%20%2831-May-2010%20:%2006-Jun-2010%29

Learn more about this author, Bruce Ziebarth.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.