Pandemic preparedness includes:
Using point-of-care testing.
Maintaining surveillance and tracking of new types of viruses.
Collecting respiratory samples from patient with flu-like symptoms and exposed to virus using swabs and bronchial exudates for laboratory testing.
Performing tests that confirm and determine subtype for changes in strains. Variances in virus strains confirmed by the CDC become candidates for a vaccine.
Using isolation to stop spread of next year’s communicable diseases; applies to persons who are known to be ill with a contagious disease; may be conducted on voluntary or mandatory basis.
Using quarantine to stop spread of virulent communicable infectious diseases; applies to those who have been exposed but who may or may not become ill; may be conducted on a voluntary or mandatory basis.
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Clinical Alert
Quarantine may last for one incubation period. The incubation period is determined by the individual virus.
Quarantinable diseases and potentially pandemic (worldwide) influenza viruses (e.g., coronavirus, avian or bird flu, H5N1), reemergent influenza viruses, and novel viruses include cholera, diphtheria, infectious tuberculosis, plague, smallpox, yellow fever, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and severe acute respiratory syndrome. Reporting of infectious and virulent communicable diseases is required under state and federal laws.