Birdflu Mailing List: WHO recommends N95 mask for pandemic patient caregivers

[William Weir (weirwilliam]

http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/influenza/Mask%20Clarification10_11.pdf<http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/influenza/Mask%20Clarification10_11.pdf>

This is a helpful 2-page clarification of the more detailed 11/06 publication.

I consider this a strong recommendation to lay in a large supply of such N95 
masks (available at paint stores, etc.) and bottles of alcohol-based hand 
cleanser.

This is especially because for up to 48 hours before symptoms appear the 
infected person is contagious, able to transmit the flu bug to others.

Also, I hear that staff at the US Centers for Disease Control have replaced the 
handshake (with its potential for bug transmission) with a smile and a touch of 
two elbows.  

WHO continues to hold its pandemic alert at phase 3 (of 6)
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html<http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html>
with the following explanation:

Experts at WHO and elsewhere believe that the world is now closer to another 
influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, when the last of the previous 
century's three pandemics occurred. WHO uses a series of six phases of pandemic 
alert as a system for informing the world of the seriousness of the threat and 
of the need to launch progressively more intense preparedness activities.
The designation of phases, including decisions on when to move from one phase 
to another, is made by the Director-General of WHO.

Each phase of alert coincides with a series of recommended activities to be 
undertaken by WHO, the international community, governments, and industry. 
Changes from one phase to another are triggered by several factors, which 
include the epidemiological behaviour of the disease and the characteristics of 
circulating viruses.

The world is presently in phase 3: a new influenza virus subtype is causing 
disease in humans, but is not yet spreading efficiently and sustainably among 
humans.