Risk Wise

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Preparation for an influenza

pandemic in Switzerland

Dr Patrick Mathys, Head of Pandemic Preparedness Section, Federal Office of Public Health, Switzerland

lthough avian influenza is no longer making the headlines

of the Swiss and European media, in Asia and Africa more

and more people who are in close contact with infected

poultry are becoming infected. The virus could mutate at any

time and become easily transmissible between humans, trigger-

ing an influenza pandemic. As the situation has hardly changed

since 2005, preparation for a pandemic remains a major task

for the authorities. The updated Swiss Influenza Pandemic Plan

was published early in 2009. Such preparation is not only up to

the authorities of the federal government and the cantons – all

levels of society, including private companies and the popula-

tion must also contribute.

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the

flu pandemic as one of the three major global threats,

along with the food crisis and climate change. In her

opening speech to the 61st World Health Assembly in

May 2008, the Director General of WHO recommended

that we remain vigilant and that preparations should not

be reduced. Consequently, preparation for an influenza

pandemic is still very important for the federal and

cantonal authorities in Switzerland.

If pandemic flu broke out in Switzerland today, of the

same strength as the 1918 Spanish flu, and if no

measures were taken in the area of public health, then

about two million people would become ill and about

ten thousand would die.

Swiss Influenza Pandemic Plan – in brief

According to the legislation on epidemics, the federal

government and the cantons are responsible for combat-

ing pandemics. At the federal level, the Federal

Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) coordinates

combating pandemics. On 27 April 2005, the Federal

Council approved the Ordinance on Measures to

Combat an Influenza Pandemic, through which the

Influenza Working Group was set up. This extra-parlia-

mentary commission was assigned the mission of

advising and supporting the authorities on all matters

connected to seasonal flu and the possibility of an

influenza pandemic. The main task of the commission

is to continue developing and regularly updating the

Swiss Influenza Pandemic Plan. This work will be done

in cooperation with the Federal Office of Public Health

(FOPH), the Federal Commission on Vaccination Issues,

the National Ethics Commission and experts called

upon from time to time. The Swiss Influenza Pandemic

Plan is based on the scientific data available, the recom-

mendations made by WHO, and experience from

previous pandemics.

The plan should first and foremost provide the strate-

gic basis for early detection of an influenza pandemic

and to combat its consequences. In the plan, measures

are described which have been developed so as to react

as quickly as possible. The plan also provides the

cantons, companies and organizations in the private

sector with basic information so they can develop their

own contingency plans to combat pandemics.

Adjuvants stored for prepandemic vaccination

Image: Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport