Health Officials Learn From H1N1 Pandemic
Carol Pearson | Washington29 April 2010
Voice of America
Photo: AP
A full year has passed since epidemic experts began tracking the H1N1 virus that was also known as swine flu. The pandemic is over for now, but the virus is still active. Both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are reviewing their responses.
Last year at this time, governments around the world intensified efforts to contain a deadly flu virus that killed scores of people in Mexico and quickly spread around the world.
Late last April, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan warned that a pandemic was imminent and the time to prepare for it was short.
“Certain actions should now be undertaken with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace,” she stated.
It was the first flu pandemic in more than four decades.
“There was a lot about this new virus that we didn’t know,” said Dr. Stephen Redd, who headed the H1N1 flu response at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Health officials did not know how deadly the virus would be, who would be most vulnerable, how quickly it would spread and whether it could be contained.
