UMDNJ public health experts are available to discuss the H1N1 pandemic declared earlier today by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr. George T. DiFerdinando, who leads the New Jersey Center for Health Preparedness at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, is available to discuss the potential impact of the H1N1 outbreak and how viruses mutate to form new threats to public health. Also available to discuss the pandemic is David Perlin, Ph.D., director of the Public Health Research Institute at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

DiFerdinando urges individuals not to panic over today’s declaration, but, instead, to act proactively. “While it is not urgent, people in the preparedness field have been recommending that people get ready,” he said. “Turn to your family and answer the question: if you, your parent or loved one is ill and requires care, what do you need to do now to be ready when demands increase? Now is the time to think about it and prepare.”

DiFerdinando suggests that anyone seeking more information about personal preparedness visit www. ready.gov for more information.

This pandemic is the first to be declared by the WHO since the Hong Kong flu of 1968, which reportedly killed approximately one million people. DiFerdinando said that the WHO’s declaration today is more of an international change. “In terms of community activity, we’re already doing what we would normally do at that level anyway.”

New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are among the handful of states in the U.S. with widespread, or sustained, H1N1 activity. DiFerdinando says personal preparedness is key.

That includes taking steps to ensure overall good health. “If you needed a motivator to get healthy - to exercise, to eat right, to do those things we all sometimes put off – H1N1 should get you to act now,” he said. “The healthier you are, the better off you will be.”

Individuals also should continue following the standard precautionary measures outlined by the CDC:
* Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
* Stay home when you are sick to prevent others from catching your illness.
* Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
* Wash your hands often to protect yourself from germs.
* Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth to avoid the spread of germs.
* Practice good health habits – get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage stress, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with nearly 5,700 students attending the state’s three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.

Source: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)