2006 Reports

Unanticipated Consequences of Pandemic Flu: Transportation Related Issues: A Preliminary Literature Review

Abramson, David M.; Fuller, Elizabeth J.; Wong, Melissa

Broadly speaking, plans for the containment and treatment of pandemic flu lead to a set of circumscribed outcomes, which include process outcomes (e.g., numbers of individuals vaccinated, numbers of health care workers vaccinated, numbers of intensive care beds opened up) as well as health outcomes (e.g., flu-related morbidity and mortality, transmission rates, and attack rates). Less well-known or researched are other health outcomes, such as excess morbidity and mortality from untreated or undertreated illness and injury distinct from influenza, and social outcomes related to such issues as increased crowding, health system congestion, increasing scarcity of resources (including monetary resources), major population shifts, and degradation of various workforces (health care, urban infrastructure such as police and sanitation, critical infrastructure, etc.) with their consequent effects.