The 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic
- PDF / 687,926 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 41 Downloads / 173 Views
van der Sande1, 2 · A. Jacobi1 · A. Meijer1 · J. Wallinga1 · W. van der Hoek1 · M. van der Lubben1 1 RIVM – Centre Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for
Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven 2 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht
The 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic Management and vaccination strategies in The Netherlands
Abbreviations Group CIb ECDC GP ILI NIC NIVEL OMT PHS RIVM WHO
Centre for Infectious Disease Control European Centre for Disease Control General practitioner Influenza-like illness National Influenza Centre National Institute for Health Services Research Outbreak management team Public health service National Institute for Public Health and the Environment World Health Organization
Background In The Netherlands, the Ministry of Health is responsible for the national responses to an (impending) health threat including an influenza pandemic. The Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb), part of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), is responsible for the coordination of current infectious disease control activities, in close collaboration with a large number of professionals and organizations, in case of an outbreak or an epidemic that cannot be controlled by the involved Public Health Service (PHS) alone because of the (anticipated) severity or extent of the event. There are 28 PHSs in The Netherlands, each one under municipal authority, organized in seven larg-
er public health regions. To optimize collaboration, each of the seven regions has identified a public health doctor and a regional microbiologist as a liaison with the CIb; these 14 regional professionals have a part-time appointment at the CIb. The CIb also has the task of setting up an outbreak management team (OMT), consisting of fixed members and additional experts invited personally, in the case of a novel or unexpected outbreak of infectious diseases that may spread nationwide. To prepare for a potential outbreak and to support daily control activities, a response team can be formed immediately at the CIb after the first signs of an outbreak. The Health Council of The Netherlands is an independent scientific advisory body that provides the government and parliament with advice on issues concerning public health, including vaccination strategies. To guide pandemic preparations, static and dynamic mathematical transmission scenario studies had been conducted to estimate the potential impact on society and on the healthcare sector under various assumptions of a new human influenza pandemic [1, 2]. Then, in 2003, The Netherlands was unexpectedly confronted by a large outbreak of influenza A/H7N7 among poultry. Outbreak investigations were initiated, diagnostics were developed, and extensive control measures were implement-
ed to stop transmission. This resulted in the culling of 30 million birds, 89 human infections were confirmed, and one casualty occurred [3]. This experience—as well as the threat of the SARS coronavirus
Data Loading...
