In the spring and summer 2009, the news media on called influenza A were each passing day more frequent, alarming and overwhelming. The scenario he painted was almost gruesome and forecasts of health authorities suggested a pandemic that would reap the lives of many tens of thousands of people around the world.
However, in August 2009 and it could be presumed that the development of the pandemic in the autumn-winter would be like that took place during the winter the southern hemisphere (Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Uruguay and other countries) and in the last month of spring in the northern hemisphere (Canada, USA. UU., Mexico and other countries). Both the epidemiological data published, as our perception in the day to day, were showing that the morbidity and mortality from influenza were even lower than the corresponding to a regular seasonal flu outbreak. This benign behavior contrasted sharply with the health authorities, the various contingency plans and correlative (different for each autonomous region) caused a significant impact on the organization of services and health care costs, apart from increasing public alarm. In fact, in primary care consultations perceive a state of increasing public concern. Examples such as consultations on voluntary abortion to prevent damage to the flu epidemic or young frightened by the apparent particular susceptibility of these to "new" virus, were not rare in medical clinics and nursing.
Moved by the turn events were acquired, several professionals in the English health system (general practitioners, pediatricians, pharmacists, family medicine residents, medical students and others) whose only common denominator was the editing blogs and web pages, we decided to take action on the matter and package it in order to find, analyze, develop and disseminate rigorous and accurate information on pandemic flu and the more cautious and scientific answer to it.
The movement began in mid-August 2009 and caught on with the name, logo and summary of "gripeycalma" for what was intended to put, to Influenza A, tranquility in the population and professionals. The work was carried out in a coordinated manner using new technologies of network communication, which is an innovative and perhaps unique in our country. As initial work product was spread in unison, on a day like today, in all blogs participating in the initiative, a statement in which he analyzed the epidemiological situation and proposed a series of advice for citizenship. Likewise, it created a blog ( Influenza A: first of all very quiet ) which served as a common platform of the movement, which were being made available to all new documents (organizational proposals, questions and answers), with translations into several languages \u200b\u200band in different formats (video, presentation, disclosure sheets, etc).
The echo of the initiative was immediate and intense. It added more blogs, both health professionals and general population interested in health, to nearly 200, and page of the group had, in just 3 months, some 80,000 visitors. And indeed, in practice it was possible to transmit the network through virtual communities, the message sought to influenza A, of calm and tranquility, serenity and rationality, both the population and the profession itself health. The impact was even the authorities, who moderated their response.
The end of the story can be written and are writing done after a birth year of the initiative. Influenza A had a peak of higher incidence in mid-November 2009 and has been a mild flu, with little impact on morbidity and mortality. The call for calm was because the scientific basis and little by little revealing that los escenarios apocalípticos no tenían razón de ser. Solo esperamos que la experiencia de esta pandemia sirva para mejorar y manejar, de forma más eficiente y ponderada, crisis futuras, evitando, en la medida de las posibilidades, caer en un consumo desmedido de recursos - que siempre implica dejar de atender otros problemas - y en una desproporcionada oleada de pánico colectivo.
Este texto cierra el primer episodio de la unión temporal de blogs y páginas de profesionales sanitarios y de otros relacionados con la salud en la Red. Muchas gracias a todos los que han colaborado de una u otra forma y a los que han visto y sentido a gripeycalma como lo que es: una iniciativa profesional que ha buscado go beyond our consultations and jobs. We just tried to bring a message of common sense and science both the public and health professionals to communicate our knowledge and understanding about a health problem, in this case to influenza A. Thanks to the work of many and the power they give us new information technologies, we can say that we succeeded.
temporary posts Union (UTB) Influenza and Calm
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