Pointers for pandemic planning

Pandemic influenza, 2nd ed.

Jonathan Van-Tam, Chloe Sellwood, editors. Boston, MA: Modular Texts, CABI, 2013 (xxiv + 264 pp, US$75.00). ISBN 9781845938574.

As the World Health Organization regularly reminds us, neither the timing nor the severity of the next influenza pandemic can be predicted. So, when avian influenza A(H5N1) virus emerged and fatal human cases were detected in a number of countries from 2003 onwards, pandemic planning took centrestage. At that time, those tasked with writing and implementing pandemic plans had no easy reference or experience to draw upon as the most recent pandemic had occurred 35 years earlier, in 1968, when technologies such as antiviral drugs, split and subunit vaccine preparations and computer-aided disease surveillance systems for outbreak detection did not exist. This made the first edition of Van-Tam and Sellwood’s book Pandemic influenza, published in April 2009, a useful resource. The book brought together leading experts to summarise the epidemiology, virology and clinical aspects of influenza as well as public health surveillance, emergency response and risk aspects of pandemic preparedness.

This second edition of the book was published in February 2013 and has built in the experience and lessons learnt from the 2009 influenza A(H1N1pdm09) pandemic. It consists of 20 chapters and nine country case studies. The editors are eminently qualified to oversee such a project: Van-Tam is Professor of Health Protection at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, and Sellwood is Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza Resilience Manager at the National Health Service in London. Once again, they have selected some of the world’s most respected and influential practitioners in the field to present summaries of current pandemic influenza knowledge, preparedness and response plans. Each chapter presents an authoritative and balanced overview.

Without doubt, this book fills a gap as no other publication addresses the plethora of issues faced by pandemic planners. The book will greatly benefit those advising decisionmakers on the rationale for various recommendations including on topical issues such as the utility of the anti-influenza drug oseltamivir, which has been recently questioned. The book’s layout and limited use of colour does detract from its shelf appeal but the content is not compromised. The book will serve public health practitioners and students in Australia and other developed countries well on both technical and operational issues.