Occhealth Bulletin
12 May 2009
H1N1 (Swine ‘flu) virus – essential links
Category: Reviews
This bulletin is dedicated to providing you with the essential links that you need to find out more about H1N1 (Swine ‘flu) virus, incidence, and the worldwide actions being taken to monitor the prevalence and spread of the respiratory illness.
World Health Organization (WHO)
The global response to the Influenza A H1N1 virus is being coordinated by the World Health Organization, and is the official body from which you can access information about the respiratory illness. The home page (www.who.int/en/) of the WHO website leads regular news stories and situation updates. There is a frequently asked questions section and prepared guidance notes to help support health professionals, individuals, communities and national authorities prevent and combat the spread of the virus.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
By providing regular updates and information, CDC’s goals are to ‘reduce transmission and illness severity’ and help health care providers, public health officials and the public ‘address the challenges posed by this emergency’. CDC’s H1N1 (Swine ‘flu) web page (www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/) provides an update on the number of laboratory tested and confirmed cases in our country as well as links to guidance pages, reports and publications and general information (symptoms, and actions that you should take to help prevent further spread of the virus). There is also an information page on the use of face masks and respirators.
US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA)
The US FDA is currently working as part of a team led by the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare safe and effective vaccines against the virus (including pre-production preparation), work with public health agencies for clinical development and testing of vaccines and ‘accelerating access to new diagnostic tools for the virus’. For more information, and regular updates, go to www.fda.gov/h1n1flu/default.htm