The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7464 p147
11 August 2007

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Public health measures may help to mitigate pandemic flu

Public health measures, such as isolating patients and quarantining contacts, closing schools, and cancelling public gatherings, reduced mortality in the 1918–19 influenza pandemic and should be considered alongside vaccine development and drug treatment when planning for future pandemics, according to researchers in the US (JAMA 2007;298:644).

An association between early, sustained and layered implementation of non-pharmaceutical public health measures and mitigating the consequences of the 1918–19 pandemic was identified through analysis of historical data from 43 US cities.

“Communities that were most successful during the 1918 pandemic quickly enacted a variety of measures. Those planning for the next pandemic need to carefully consider how to best use these strategies to protect people and decrease the potential impact of the next pandemic in their communities,” say the researchers.