The most effective antidote to avian flu is Tamiflu. It is available from Doctorcall at £50 per dose. To purchase supplies or for more information, call Peter Mills on 0844 264 0421.
How likely is a flu pandemic?
Nobody can make a precise estimate – a pandemic depends on the mutation of a virus, a process which is not well understood. But many of the world’s top virus scientists, the World Health Organisation and other leading medical authorities are all seriously concerned – as well as many of the world’s top companies which have made their own individual assessment of the risk.
A working party appointed by Survive, the Business Continuity Group of companies, concluded that ‘There is no doubt that a flu pandemic will occur’
A group of more than 70 companies in the financial sector led by the
Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England and the Treasury have
taken the threat sufficiently seriously to conduct a major exercise simulating
a pandemic and learning lessons about how they could best respond to its
impact.
The US Health and Human Services Department concluded that the likelihood
is ‘very high’.
In Britain, the Chief Medical Officer of Health said it is ‘a case of when not if’ a pandemic will occur.
It is always tempting to put one’s head in the sand and hope the gloomy predictions are exaggerations. But, as writer Leonard Crane concluded, this is a bit like living in Florida and hoping that a really bad hurricane would never hit a major city – as many people did until Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.
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