Digital News Report – Spreading germs happens every day when people interact in the environment. While the ‘Contagion’ movie has debuted this week at theaters nationwide, on his TV show today, Doctor Oz discussed how a real pandemic could spread and what you can do to protect you and your family.
Doctor Oz said that it is not the concern if an outbreak will happen; it is when it will happen. On the TV show, they showed clips from the new film ‘Contagion’ and explained that plot of the story is possible. ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ had the film’s director Steven Soderbergh of the film as a guest. There was also real life experts who joined in on the discussion on their concerns for pandemics.
Thomas Frieden, MD who is Director from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) was one of the experts on the show today. He said that the film was accurate in the way the government health agency would handle a contagious disease outbreak.
Dr. Ian Lipkin Center for Infection & Immunity at Columbia University was a pioneer in the field of infectious diseases. He applied DNA techniques to locate the unknown pathogens.
Allison Aiello PhD is an Epidemiologist from the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health. She explained that a vaccine could take potentially years to develop for a new infectious strain.
Dr. Lipkin added that vaccines could be developed quicker, but resources are lacking. The vaccines would reach the people faster if there were more investments made.
Frieden said that the government would need to invest in vaccines because in many cases there isn’t a private sector to develop them.
For the next segment on the TV show, Doctor Oz shared 5 things that could protect you if a pandemic was to break out. He recommended a supplement and other ways to keep from catching the contagion. Here is the list.
Doctor Oz – 5 Step Pandemic Kit
Frieden said that the CDC is currently tracking a new form of the Swine Flu. He explained that the H1N1 Swine Flu genes re-emerged and infected several kids. Luckily, all have recovered. The CDC has already prepared a vaccine for this strain just in case it was to spread. Frieden also said that the Swine flu showed up in Mexico for a couple of months before health officials recognized it as a problem.
Small Pox is a second serious threat. Doctor Oz said they stopped giving the small pox vaccine in 1972. They had a Homeland Security expert on the show and said she is worried about small pox getting into the wrong hands. Frieden said that the CDC has enough small pox vaccines archived for everyone in the US. The Homeland Security person is concerned about how effective the vaccine could be delivered to the population.
Measles is the third major threat. One person with measles will infect about 15 other people. Measles has been making a comeback in the US because parents are not getting routine childhood vaccinations.
Another source of information to learn more about protecting yourself and other from a pandemic, visit http://www.pandemicflu.gov/.
By: Robert Williams