Escambia County Health Department
Tradition-Service-Leadership • Protecting You Since 1821
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Emergency Preparedness
The CDC and the WHO have been closely monitoring the progression of the influenza virus H5N1, commonly called the ‘bird flu’ or ‘avian flu’. For an up-to-date report on the international and national situation, please consult the following websites: Avian Influenza from the World Health Organization PandemicFlu.gov from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Locally, the Escambia County Health Department is actively working on a pandemic influenza response plan for our community. A website, Escambia County Health Department Pandemic Influenza, was designed to educate our county residents on pandemic influenza, how to protect their family, and where they can find some additional information. To inform local healthcare providers, the Public Health Preparedness department has created a Powerpoint presentation and will be distributed on CDs in the spring 2007This document gives important information on the H5N1virus, the roles of the ECHD and the State laboratory in the event of a pandemic, and most importantly contains information for private practitioners on reporting a possible case to the ECHD Epidemiology Program.
The following links and documents can be found within the presentation. Please check back often to obtain the most recent versions. Websites WHO -- Confirmed Human Cases of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) WHO -- Interim Recommendations for infection control in health care facilities caring for patients Signs and posters Traveler’s Alert (450kb; pdf) Don't Spread the Flu (330kb; pdf) ECHD Plan for Pandemic Influenza (16kb; pdf) Tools and forms Case definition (962kb; pdf) Treatment and Prophylaxis (47kb; pdf) Avian Influenza Individual Information Sheet (84kb; pdf) DOH Annex Disinfectants Table (14kb; pdf) DOH Annex Donning PPE (497kb; pdf) DOH Annex PPE (16kb; pdf) DOH Annex WHO Phases (47kb; pdf) Pharmacy Inventory (107kb; pdf) Worried Well Screening Tool (20kb; pdf)
Other websites of interest: Information for Health Care Professionals from the FDOH Bureau of Epidemiology BeReadyEscambia.com from the Department of Public Safety. This site deals with hurricane preparedness in particular, emergency kits and local response after the storm. Ready America from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This site has information for private individuals, business and kids to prepare before disaster strikes.
Since the 2001 terrorism attacks on the nation, the Escambia County Health Department has been educating our community partners to improve our ability to detect and respond to any suspicious incident. Our local health providers are “our eyes and ears” and play a leading role in making our surveillance system efficient and effective. A manual was created to help the clinician recognize a possible patient exposure or any clinical signs compatible with a bioterrorism agent. The “Zebra Packet” was adapted from a similar document produced by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and is available free of charge to all Escambia County health providers. For your free hard copy of the Zebra Packet please contact the Escambia County Health Department Epidemiology Program office at 850-595-6683. The Zebra packet includes:
For more information on bioterrorism, visit the Public Health Preparedness page. Related websites: Bioterrorism preparedness
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