U.S. Grossly Unprepared to Report on Swine Flu Spread
U.S. Grossly Unprepared to Report on Swine Flu Spread
April 28, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Do States, CDC and FDA Have a Grasp on the Risk of Infectious Diseases, Such as Swine Flu, and Food-Borne Illnesses? Data Point to 'No.' EIN News's Continuing Coverage of the Swine Flu Emergency
WASHINGTON, April 27 - /EIN NEWS/ As the aggressively spreading swine flu makes its way to U.S. soil, states are scrambling to judge the full extent of how susceptible the population is to infection. But some states are having no problem with reporting the impact: That's because they're not required to report at all or don't have the means to do so effectively.
As no federal statute exists requiring states to report on illnesses, such as food-borne illnesses and influenza spread, the exact extent to which the population is at risk for disease is never really known. In fact some states, namely Utah and Kentucky, fail to report these statistics at all. Whereas some states, such as Minnesota and Washington, lead the nation in reporting outbreaks and communicating the risks to their residents.
According to the New York Times, "Congress and the Obama administration have said that more inspections and new food production rules are needed to prevent food-related diseases, but far less attention has been paid to fixing the fractured system by which officials detect and stop ongoing outbreaks."
Turn to EIN News for continuing coverage of the swine flu that is spreading across North America and find out the stories that the mainstream media - let alone the states - is not reporting:
-- Latest news from Healthcare Industry Today - http://health.einnews.com
-- Latest swine flu pandemic news - http://health.einnews.com/news/swine-flu-pandemic
-- Latest H1N1 flu virus news - http://health.einnews.com/news/h1n1-flu-virus
-- Latest Mexico flu news - http://health.einnews.com/news/mexico-flu
As reported by Reuters, "The U.S. food supply system has been hit by a series of big food recalls since 2006, leading to vociferous calls by lawmakers, consumer groups and most recently the Obama administration for reform. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to modernize the system." Yet, here the country sits and waits again for enough people to get sick - across the entire nation - before the alarm is sounded.
Are some states doing the job of the FDA while the department rests on its laurels? EIN News keeps you up to date with this story and more, spanning the globe to deliver to you the full story from the world's top news sources.
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