Make plans to attend CIDRAP Summit on H1N1 preps
Scott McPherson
in Information technology, Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
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2 Comments
CIDRAP stands for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Its director is the world-famous Dr. Michael Osterholm. Dr. Osterholm advises everyone from the White House to Oprah on infectious disease. Dr. Mike is also an expert on bioterrorism and has advised DHS many times on lethal bio-engineered pathogens. He wrote a book, Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe. I should point out that Dr. Osterholm wrote this a year before the anthrax attacks of October, 2001.
The upcoming summit is titled "Keeping the World Working During the H1N1 Pandemic -- protecting employee health, critical operations and customer relations." Its focus is on those final steps that corporations, businesses and governments need to take to ensure they do not implode when the second and third waves of H1N1 traverse the globe.
The Summit is September 22 and 23, 2009, in Minneapolis.
Both Avian Flu Diary's Mike Coston and I are presenters at the Summit. I am presenting (twice) on the topic of final IT preps for the pandemic. Mike is appearing with NBC's superb science correspondent Robert Bazell.
Please go up onto the Summit's Website and check out the agenda, speakers and registration information. I strongly encourage you to try to attend this event. Or try and send people to this conference. Think "Last Chance for Gas" just before you drive through the desert.
This conference truly is the Last Chance for Preps before Wave 2 hits.
Reader Comments (2)
Scott,
This all sounds great, but I'm afraid it's too late for wave two.
John Oxford, well known virologist in London, stated that once 1/3 of the world is infected then the virus will become more lethal.
" But once the virus has infected about a third of the world's population -- which is what we expect -- it will find less 'susceptibles'. That is when mutants will have a selective advantage "
John Oxford, professor of virology at Britain St Bartholomew\'s and the Royal London Hospital
Mr. Oxford thinks this will happen next year. Maybe so. I read somewhere 4% of the world a day is getting infected. That would make wave two right around the corner.
Frankly I'm more concerned about getting my kids out of school than making sure the GDP doesn't get a hit.
It will anyway.
1918 500 million infected (1/3 of population)
Second wave started in October 1918
2009 world population 6.78 billion
I'm surprised no-one has run any numbers on this for a projection.
I just saw this today!
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/health/brace-now-for-h1n1-scientists-58914502.html
The top line reads...
"H1n1 will begin spreading substantially any day now, peak in mid- to late-October and infect 32 per cent of the population, according to a new study on the potential impact of the anticipated fall wave of H1N1.
Reporting in the journal Science, U.S. researchers say schoolchildren need to be immunized as quickly as possible to curb H1N1's spread."
I advocate closing schools until the vaccine is available and banning all public gatherings.
N95's for free for anyone who wants them (hey, if we can spend billions to keep the banks...).
Business mandated to plan for employees to work-at-home.
Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to post.