Resources for Current Events: 2020 - Pandemics

Research suggests that future influenza pandemics are inevitable as strains of the virus mutate in new ways. With this uncomfortable reality in mind, this book examines how the general public experienced the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus outbreak by bringing together stories about individuals'perception of their illness, as well as reflections on news, vaccination, social isolation, and other infection control measures. The book also charts the story-telling of public life, including the "be alert, not alarmed" messages from the beginning of the outbreak through to the narratives thatemerged later when the virus turned out to be less serious than initially thought. Providing unprecedented insight into the lives of ordinary people faced with the specter of a potentially lethal virus and drawing on currents in sociocultural scholarship of narrative, illness narrative, and narrative medicine, Pandemics, Publics, and Narrative develops a novel "public health narrative" approach of interest to health communicators and researchers across the social and health sciences.

Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader, 3rd Edition probes the legal and ethical issues at the heart of public health through an incisive selection of judicial opinions, scholarly articles, and government reports. This updated edition reader includes new discussions of today's most pressing health threats, such as chronic diseases, emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, biosecurity, and health disparities.

A section titled "Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response" includes portions of articles titled "Allocating Vaccines and Antiviral Medications during an Influenza Pandemic;" "Playing God: The Legality of Plans Denying Scarce Resources to People with Disabilities in Public Health Emergencies;" and "From SARS to Ebola: Legal and Ethical Considerations for Modern Quarantine."

During public health emergencies (PHEs) involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear threats or emerging infectious diseases, medical countermeasures (MCMs) (e.g., drugs, vaccines, devices) may need to be dispensed or administered to affected populations to help mitigate the human health impact of the threat.

The optimal MCMs determined for use during an emergency might be U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved but used in unapproved ways (e.g., in a new age group or against a new agent); FDA approved using animal models because human efficacy testing is not ethical or feasible; or not yet FDA approved for any indication.

As part of the United States' scientific and research preparedness enterprise, there is an imperative to go "beyond the last mile" of MCM dispensing and administration to build and maintain a national capability to monitor and assess the use of MCMs (e.g., safety, compliance, clinical benefit) after they have been dispensed during PHEs.

Biosecurity Dilemmas examines conflicting values and interests in the practice of "biosecurity," the safeguarding of populations against infectious diseases through security policies. Biosecurity encompasses both the natural occurrence of deadly disease outbreaks and the deliberate or accidental release of biological weapons. Enemark focuses on six dreaded diseases that are given high-priority by governments and international organizations for research, regulation, surveillance, and rapid response: pandemic influenza, drug-resistant tuberculosis, smallpox, Ebola virus, bubonic plague, and anthrax. The book is organized around four ethical dilemmas that arise when fear causes these diseases to be framed in terms of national or international security: protect or proliferate, secure or stifle, remedy or overkill, and attention or neglect. Chapter 5 is titled "Social Distancing and National Security."

In 2009, the H1N1 influenza pandemic brought to the forefront the many unknowns about the virulence, spread, and nature of the virus, as well as questions regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare personnel.

In this book, the Institute of Medicine assesses the progress of PPE research and identifies future directions for PPE for healthcare personnel.