Europe ‘needs more time’ to prepare for flu pandemic

In an interview with the Financial Times, Zsuzsanna Jakab, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said that Europe needs at least two more years to be prepared adequately for a pandemic flu outbreak in humans, February 2007.

A new ECDC Technical Report, published on 22 February 2007, reviews the state of preparedness of EU Member States, Norway and Iceland against a possible influenza pandemic. While much has been done since 2005 to improve preparedness, the report identifies a number of areas where more work needs to be done.

Website: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/index.html

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