Travis County Commissioners Court
September 8, 2009,
Item 5
>> number 5 is to receive update on pandemic flu and h1n1 from Austin-Travis County health and human services department.
>> morning.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners.
i'm david lurie, director of the Austin-Travis County health and human services department.
with me this morning is dr.
phil wong, who is our medical director.
and we appreciate this opportunity to kind of give you a status report on a novel h1n1 virus and what our plans are in terms of community response.
with that shared I think we'd like to go into our presentation here.
first of all, just to sort of provide some context for this, this is some information regarding regarding pandemics and seasonal flu.
pandemic is basically a worldwide outbreak and often times is thought of as being very severe in terms of its consequences.
in this case in terms of h1n1, it meets the definition of pandemic in terms of it being worldwide, but so far continues to be considered a mild to moderate in terms of its overall impact, but of course we continue to watch it very closely because it is a novel virus and that can change.
in contrast to that we have the seasonal flu every year and that is a virus not very novel and where we adapt on an annual basis a vaccine and it is typically not as severe.
and some data here in terms of pandemics in the past.
1918, the spanish flu, approximately 50 million people died worldwide.
about -- I'm sorry, one million from the asian flu in 1957-1958.
and in 1968-69, hong kong flu, about 700,000 deaths worldwide.
it's very important to note, however, that every year with the seasonal flu, approximately 36,000 people die as a result of that in the united states.
so I think the message here, the point is that the flu can be very severe, can be significant and we really want to make sure we're doing all we can from a prevention standpoint.
the numbers we're experiencing now as far as h1n1, it certainly is continue to go circulate.
the numbers are not yet at a level comparable to seasonal flu, but of course we're experiencing it earlier than the normal seasonal variance.
some sampling that has been done in term early on with h1n1 as it relates to mortality provides data that shows a bit after difference in terms of seasonal flu.
generally about 60% of the deaths associated with h1n1 have been in age groups up to about 49 years of age.
this is some different from seasonal flu in that typically 90 percent of deaths associated with seasonal flu are among people 65 years of age or older.
so that is a difference here in terms of the younger population being impacted.
>> why is that?
do we know?
>> I'll let dr.
wong comment?
>> one thing that stopped the older population might have some protection from prior infections earlier.
so it's a little different than typically what we see.
>> and in some of the pandemics in the past, I believe that's also been the case where younger population has been impacted much more so than with what we experience with the seasonal flu.
in term of symptoms, they're basically the same, fever, cough, sore throat.
in some instances vomiting and diarrhea.
it is being recommended now by the centers for disease control and prevention that people experiencing influenza, flulike symptoms stay home from work or school until they no longer have fever for a period of 24 hours, and that is without fever and also without using fever-reducing medications.
so again, a very important prevention message.
we're encouraging people who are experiencing influenzalike symptoms to stay home from work or school.
people should consult with their health care providers, and for h1n1 this includes pregnant women, children, young adults, and in particular individuals with underlying chronic medical conditions, heart disease, diabetes, asthma or compromised immune systems.
in terms of the vaccine program, the seasonal flu vaccine is currently available and we strongly encourage people to take advantage of that.
the plan is for h1n1 vaccine to become available probably late September, early October, and that will be distributed through our normal health care provider systems, health care providers now have the opportunity to register with the state health services department for access to vaccine, and we're encouraging providers, we're encouraging all the normal networks, the pharmacies and we're also going to be working with large employers and schools to encourage them to have the vaccine and make it available to the populations that they serve.
this is a federal program that's providing the h1n1 vaccine.
it's free of charge.
the supplies associated with the vaccine will also be provided to all of these health care providers.
texas is anticipating receiving one and a half million doses of the h1n1 vaccine at the end of September.
mid October another one and a half million doses.
and the end of October 1 and a half million additional doses.
and then beyond November into November we'll continue to receive more and more vaccine.
so the point here is that it's being produced as quickly as possible, but the entire quantity is not going to be available at the beginning.
so we will be phasing in the use of this vaccine and very much want to encourage people who are in the higher risk groups to gain access to the vaccine early on.
and again, that focus will be on pregnant women.
it will be on family members and households that have children that are less than six months of age because children less than six months of age cannot be vaccinated, so it's important to protect the people around them in terms of the potential exposure, which then in turn protects those children.
and then we sort of move up the scale in terms of other children, young adults, and then ultimately all individuals who have underlying chronic medical conditions and eventually the plan is for this to be available for the entire population.
i would also emphasize again the importance of the seasonal flu vaccine.
it is available.
people are encouraged to go to their normal providers and normal places in which they receive that vaccine and as we reported to you I think at your last meeting we're providing with our on -- we're proceeding with our health clinics as well for people uninsured and for people on medicare for the seasonal flu vaccine.
in terms of neighborhood response we're working closely with a lot of neighborhood associations and organizations encouraging them to stay in touch with their neighbors, particularly those who may be more vulnerable to make sure that they're experiencing flulike symptoms and need to get access to care, then they can facilitate that because there are medications available that if provided early on can help reduce potential for severity associated with influenza.
and then also we want to keep reinforcing the prevengs messages to the general public, the very basics, hand washing, covering up a cough or sneeze, again, staying home from work or school if you're experiencing symptoms.
and then for those who may be in these higher risk groups to consult with their health care provider and also we continue to encourage people just in terms of emergency preparedness in general to keep supplies at home of food, medications and so forth, about a two-week supply to make sure that if there's any disruption with a large scale event in terms of any supply symptoms that people have those things in place for their protection.
communications and outreach, this is a critical part of what we're doing.
and you can go to various city of Austin websites, Travis County website, state of Texas, flufight.org.
the centers for disease control and prevention, a whole host of resources out there that provide people with a lot of information about the influenza and q and a, question and answer, fact sheets and so forth.
so again, we feel very strongly that an informed community is really the key to all of this and will make the most difference in terms of our success and preventing disease transmission.
>> you brought up a good point as far as inform the community.
i'm just wondering for those -- those that are not in the computer age and not being able to go to a website and still know what they need to do to try to protect themselves as much as possible.
this information, how would it be shared with those folks that are not within the computer reach of the information that's necessary as far as what you're giving us here today.
what type of attempts are being made -- we have the clinics, we have a lot of the -- we have a lot of other things out there that may be available to those questions, but I'm concerned about the information not getting to everyone -- except those that are in the computer literate exposure of all of this.
so that's a real concern of mine.
we have a lot of folks that may be caught up into that type of situation.
>> yes.
and we're working with a lot of outlets in terms of public information.
there will be a massive media campaign at the state and federal level supporting this.
we're also working through -- we'll be working through our neighborhood centers and various sites that we have throughout Travis County to have -- we have fliers available.
we have handouts.
we have a group of staff that are going to community meetings, neighborhood association meetings on a regular basis, providing the kind of information that I'm providing today.
there's information through 211 or 311 where people can call in as well.
i think that, Commissioner, we're really going to be focusing a lot on trying to reach the entire population through every possible mechanism that we can.
>> may I suggest churches?
>> yes.
typically we do, we work with our faith-based partners in terms of our general public health education and outreach.
but I'll make sure, Commissioner, that we're doing that with this as well.
thank you.
>> mr.
reeferseed?
>> thank you, sir.
i wanted to speak kind of counter to what we're hearing here, except to note that yes, it is a novel virus.
why is it called a novel virus?
because it's man-made.
it's part pig flu, part bird flu and part human flu.
and like the aforementioned spanish flu is originated from one of our united states military basis.
we're not guilt-free here.
this is part of a worldwide evil plan to kill people.
spanish flu originated like I said from our own military base and the informed community who want to know about the h1n1.
it's part swine flu, part bird flu and part human flu.
the research that's been done on it so far is it's man-made.
i've been paying attention to all these flus and all these things all my life and never before has there been such hype.
there's no match anywhere near the hype that they're trying to panic us all into taking these shots.
and I'm advising anybody who really wants to look into this to resist this, to resist taking shots.
these vaccines are on owe they've not been researched.
they haven't had time.
and research takes time.
and you throw untested vaccines at people.
a lot of people will die from the vaccine just like the last time we had a swine flu epidemic in my shorter lifetime in the gerald ford administration, they tried to get us all to take them.
and then sure enough, after, what, less than two months, they realized, hey, these are killing more people than the swine flu.
so they recalled that.
so to prevent such a kind of needless death, I -- in contrast to these learned gentlemen, I think we should resist on a personal level.
i know I will.
because I don't have a faith in the science advisor, which I really advise everybody please read at least one of his textbooks like eco science, population resources and the environment, and it's literally one of their plans.
and vaccines are listed as vehicles for population reduction.
it's in the book.
he's written like 30 textbooks and other things.
please look into it.
his name is john p.
hol dreep drin, he's obama's top science advisor behind a whole lot of this.
look into it.
it's not as happy as one would hope.
>> thank you.
mr.
lurie?
>> judge Biscoe, I would like to summarize what we're recommending, but prior to that I would like to ask dr.
wong to make a few comments about the process that is carried out in terms of the development of the vaccine and its effectiveness.
>> sure.
>> I mean, the production process that they're using for this vaccine is very I am similar to what's done every year with the seasonal flu.
so they're currently in the clinical trials process right now.
it is accelerated, but again the process is similar to what is done every year with seasonal fluz and it's recommend anticipated that the risks will be similar to what we get every year with seasonal flu.
>> so why is this called h1n1?
>> that's because of some of the protein -- the characteristics on the virus.
there's -- there's -- that's sort of how they do the typing for the specific types of viruses.
and so this is -- again the type is an h1n1, but it's novel because it has not actually been circulating before, so there is not general immunity to it like there are with some of the viruses that have previously been circulating.
>> okay.
questions?
court?
thank you very much.
ms.
fleming?
>> I think mr.
lurie had one or two slides he wanted to finish up.
>> just to recap and summarize.
we just have basically four messages we want to make sure people sort of take home.
one is to stay informed because it is a dynamic situation.
we continue to monitor it.
please practice these preventive measures, get vaccinated both for the seasonal flu and for h1n1, and if you're particularly in these high risk groups, consult with your health care providers.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 2:14 PM
