Swine Flu and Avian Flu (H1N1 & H5N1 Influenza)   Be prepared to protect your business and staff from pandemic flu

9th of Dec 2008 Nagao Makino
Chairman of International Infectious Diseases

What you should know

The UN (United Nations) has anticipated that the amount of influenza victims may reach 150 million worldwide.
According to a report released by the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Australia in February 2006, fatality rates resulting from an influenza pandemic (avian flu or swine flu) has the potential to reach a global figure of 142 million: 28 million in China, 24 million in India, 4 million in Philippines, 2 million in the US, 5.6 million in Europe and 2 million in Japan.

One of the most detrimental impacts that a pandemic flu outbreak could bring if no preventative measures are taken is a massive economic loss (estimated figures in Japan range from about 20 trillion Yen ($217 Billion, £134 Billion) - Daiichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.

Since the speed that the current H1N1 virus spreads from human to human is so fast, once hospital beds are overwhelmed by patients it is likely that patients will be forced to be treated at home by other members of the family who may be lacking the required knowledge to properly protect themselves, as well as how to treat infected members of the family. In such cases the infection will spread easily from infected members of the family to healthy members which is a very likely scenario f the family is not prepared with protective equipment such as respirator masks, protection goggles and or disinfectant sprays. For this reason educating the community at large as to how to treat and care for a sick family member is vitally important.

Take Precautions

NIOSH or FFP2 certified respirators are recommended by the W.H.O (World Health Organisation) as they offer the highest level of protection against airborne contamination by filtering up to 99.7% of airborne particulates from the virus. Normal surgical or face masks do not have such high protection (even those worn by medical staff as they are designed for a different purpose).

It is reported that up to 600,000 virus particles are expelled every time an infected person sneezes and only up to 50% of them can be filtered out by wearing normal surgical masks.

Your Best Protection

Our FSC-F-99E® masks have passed FFP2 regulations and are particularly ideal for protection against both the H1N1 Virus (commonly known as Swin Flu) and the H5N1 Virus (commonly known as Bird or Avian Flu) as they can filter out and capture the virus with static-electricity charged fibres that are specially woven into the fabric. A unique four-layered structure also helps as each layer targets a particular need in the filtration process. These masks have also been designed to minimise the discomfort often accompanied by wearing a protective mask.

There may be increased anxiety this winter if the H1N1 pandemic or H5N1 numbers reach worst case predictions, resulting in an increased demand for these high efficiency respirators. Therefore it is important to start preparing now as we which may quickly go out of stock in such a scenario.