Is the threat from swine flu now over?
As many business leaders across the UK breathe a sigh of relief that the much predicted swine flu epidemic has yet to materialise in UK, there are fears that many people and businesses will become complacent. Historically, pandemics have happened in two waves with the first wave often causing a fraction of the damage of the second wave. Many experts are now predicting that swine flu, although still a short to medium-term threat, could materialise again in the autumn and winter time when natural defences would be low.
The swine flu outbreak has already cost billions upon billions of dollars in lost trade and lost business on a worldwide basis, but this could be just a fraction of the eventual cost if a second wave was to appear. Diseases such as swine flu are very difficult to predict and even more difficult to control as they can mutate into different strains which may become resistant to existing medicines. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is still adamant that a pandemic is just around the corner and those in business and society that start to lower their defences may well place themselves and those around them at significant risk.
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