WHO Mishandled H1N1 Pandemic

Remember how news about the H1N1 swine flu pandemic was the top story every day for weeks and months not so long ago? Remember the scare tactics? Now The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has endorsed the conclusions of its Health Committee, which stated there is “overwhelming evidence that the seriousness of the pandemic was vastly overrated by WHO” (World Health Organization), which led to a mishandling of public health priorities.
PACE noted that the handling of the H1N1 pandemic by WHO, European Union health agencies, and national governments resulted in a “waste of large sums of public money, and unjustified scares and fears about the health risks,” according to a news release from the Council of Europe.
For some time there has also been great concerns about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry, specifically those that manufactured the H1N1 vaccines, on decisions made about the pandemic and the advice given to the public. PACE parliamentarians voiced concerns that their conclusions and the other controversies surrounding the entire H1N1 affair could prove “disastrous” should a serious pandemic develop in the future because of a lack of public confidence.
Just prior to PACE’s endorsement of its Health Committee’s conclusions, two members of a review panel that was established to appraise WHO’s handling of the H1N1 pandemic stepped down because they said they had been involved in the response the panel was assessing, according to CBC News. Both men—Australian virologist John MacKenzie and head of aviation medicine at the International Civil Aviation Organization, Dr. Tony Evans—said they will act as expert witnesses if and when needed.
Earlier this year, Harvey Fineberg, head of the Institute of Medicine, announced that he and a 29-member committee were investigating the questionable relationship between WHO and the pharmaceutical industry during the swine flu outbreak. Fineberg said that “The committee is well aware that concerns have been expressed of the potential influence of industry on decision making at various advisory committees and the WHO more generally.”
In February 2010, Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, the former head of health at the Council for Europe, accused WHO of “faking” the pandemic. “It looks like the WHO is under the influence of industry,” he said at a hearing in Strasbourg. Fineberg was quoted in EarthTimes, saying that if he and his committee discover any wrongdoings by WHO, the “conclusions and recommendations will be a matter of public record.” Results of the review are not expected to be presented until early 2011.
In light of PACE’s conclusion that WHO mishandled the H1N1 pandemic, the Assembly has issued recommendations urging greater transparency and better handling of public health issues, as well as efforts to protect against “undue influence by vested interests.” Along with a request for public monies to support independent research and advice, it has also asked the media to avoid “sensationalism and scaremongering in the public health domain.”

How Wildfires Affect Public Health

Many county health departments are getting questions from their residents who have been affected by the smoke from the wildfire burning in Eastern North Carolina. The accompanying information has been provided to the local health departments by the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response and is being provided to the media to help facilitate dissemination of the information to the public. Thank you for assisting us in that effort.
Q: What is the health threat from wildfire smoke?
A: Smoke from wildfires is a mixture of gases and fine particles from burning trees and other plant materials. Smoke can irritate your eyes or your respiratory system, and worsen chronic heart and lung diseases. How much and how long you are exposed to the smoke, as well as your age and degree of susceptibility play a role in determining whether or not someone will experience smoke-related health problems. If you are experiencing serious medical problems for any reason, seek medical treatment immediately.
Q: How can I tell if the smoke is affecting my family or me?
A:
* Smoke can cause coughing, scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, shortness of breath, chest pain, headaches, stinging eyes and runny nose.
* If you have heart or lung disease, smoke might make your symptoms worse.
* People who have heart disease might experience chest pain, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and fatigue.
* Smoke may worsen symptoms for people who have pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as respiratory allergies, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in the following ways:
o Inability to breathe normally
o Cough with or without mucus
o Chest discomfort
o Wheezing and shortness of breath
* When smoke levels are high, even healthy people may experience some of these symptoms.
Q: How can I protect myself and my family from the harmful effects of smoke?
A: The best thing to do is to limit your exposure to the smoke. Specific strategies to decrease exposure to smoke include staying indoors whenever possible, using air conditioners (air conditioned homes usually have lower air exchange rates than homes that use open windows for ventilation), using mechanical air cleaners, keeping windows closed while driving in a vehicle, and minimizing other sources of air pollution such as smoking tobacco, using wood burning stoves, burning candles or incense and vacuuming.
Q: Will I suffocate in my house?
A: No. The most common call for evacuation during a wildfire is due to the direct threat of the fire, not smoke. Leaving the area of thick smoke may be an option for those who are sensitive to smoke. But it is often difficult to predict the duration, intensity and direction of smoke, making this an unattractive choice to many people. Those without air conditioning must also remember not to become overheated by closing all windows.
Q: Should I wear a dust mask or N95 respirator?
A: N95 respirators and dust masks are masks made of filtering material that fit over the nose and mouth. The filter material will filter out some of the small particles that may be found in smoke, but only if there is a good fit to the wearer’s face. It is also important to know that N95 particulate respirators and dust masks only filter particles, not toxic gases and vapors.
Most people will find it difficult to use the respirators and masks correctly for general use. For instance, it is impossible to get a good seal on individuals with facial hair. As a result, the respirator will provide little if any protection, and may offer the wearer a false sense of protection.
Filtering face-piece respirators and masks can make the work of breathing more difficult and can lead to increased breathing rates and heart rates. They can also contribute to heat stress. Because of this, respirator use by those with heart and respiratory diseases can be dangerous, and should only be done under a doctor’s supervision. Even healthy adults may find that the increased effort required for breathing makes it uncomfortable to wear a respirator for more than short periods of time. Decisions on whether to use respirators or masks as personal protection for people who must work outside should be made on a case by case, day by day basis.

Sign Language Via Cell Phone, You Heard Right

Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may soon have access to a cell phone capable of transmitting American sign language. University of Washington engineers are working on a device that can optimize compressed video signals for sign language.
Cell phone usage is ubiquitous: according to Cellphone.org, 89 percent of Americans used a cell phone in 2009. But there are many people who are not included in this statistic because they have a medical challenge that does not allow them to use a traditional mobile phone.

Mobile Video Phones Make Sign Language Possible

The MobileASL (American Sign Language) team has been working to change that. They have improved the quality of the image around the hands and face on video phone transmissions, and they also use motion detection to identify when a person is signing, which can extend the phone’s battery life when the video is being used.
The University of Washington engineers recently completed its first field test of the video phone device along with 11 volunteers in a summer program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Eve Riskin, a UW professor of electrical engineering, explained that although they knew the cell phones worked in a lab, they wanted to test them in real life.
“This is the first study of how deaf people in the United States use mobile video phones,” she said. “The field study is an important step toward putting this technology into practice,” because it allowed the participants to test the phones in their daily lives for three weeks.
In this study, the average call duration was 90 seconds, and the volunteers made about 200 calls during the first two and a half weeks of the study. Although most of the study participants said they currently preferred to use texting or e-mail for distance communication, they rated their experience with the MobileASL phone as a positive one.
One of the volunteers noted that while texting is good for short messages, use of the video mobile phone is similar to “making a real phone call.” Texting can be confusing, while the MobileASL phone can eliminate that problem. Tong Song, a Chinese national who is studying at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, pointed out that “with the MobileASL phone people can see each other eye to eye, face to face, and really have better understanding.”
New high-end cell phones, such as the iPhone 4 and the HTC Evo, offer video conferencing, but broadband companies have blocked video conferencing from their networks and will be offering expensive plans for heavy users. The UW engineers estimate that iPhone’s FaceTime video conferencing service uses nearly 10 times the bandwidth of MobileASL.
Riskin noted that “We want to deliver affordable, reliable ASL on as many devices as possible.” The UW engineers say the MobileASL system could be integrated with any of the new, high-tech devices that have a video camera on the same side as the screen. Hopefully it won’t be long before deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals have a cell phone they can use to communicate via sign language.