Word: influenza
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...just a few months after being named the CDC's interim head - in lieu of a political appointment from President Barack Obama - Besser has been thrust into the role of the government's public health commander-in-chief, guiding the agency through what could be the first new influenza pandemic in decades. That has meant long days at CDC headquarters in Atlanta and lots of time in front of TV cameras, explaining to a worried country why hand-washing is so very important. He spoke with TIME's Bryan Walsh about deciding whether to make an H1N1 flu vaccine...
...largely around avian flu, had approached or looked at [an outbreak that] would originate off our shores. Then you could send in a team and attempt to contain it, if it were in a small area. Once it moved out of a small area, it's impossible to contain influenza. Those factors together really push against a border strategy...
Besser: It depends on the type of illness. You know, influenza is one that if it's originating in a small village in Mexico, you might think about trying to contain it in that setting. Even that's very optimistic, though, given how easily influenza spreads from person to person. Once it reaches an urban environment in any country, your ability to contain it is pretty much nil. But your other point that countries need to beef up their public health capabilities around the world - definitely. We as a global community are only as strong as our weakest link...
Three of the nine cases of influenza reported at the Harvard Dental School earlier this week were confirmed as H1N1 “swine flu” yesterday after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health received notice from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, where the testing was conducted. Since the announcement of the original cluster of nine cases on Friday, no new suspected cases have been identified among Harvard faculty, staff, and students, allaying fears of an impending epidemic. As a result, the Harvard Medical School resumed full clinical and classroom functioning as of yesterday, according to David...
Nevertheless, in a substitute official celebration that was closed to the public, President Felipe Calderon was quick to draw the comparison between the war against Napoleon III and the new battle against H1N1 influenza. "The first line of defense against this new evil has been the Mexican hospitals, doctors and nurses," Calderon said, flanked by modern tanks and cadets. "Mexico has been at the front of the battle, defending humanity against the propagation of this virus." (See a brief pictorial history of Cinco de Mayo...