Health & Safety

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Overview

For Families

• Preparing For Pandemic Influenza — What You Can Do
  Learn steps that communities, businesses, and individuals can take to prepare for pandemic flu.
• Individuals & Families Checklist and Planning Guide
  Get a planning checklist, fill-in sheets for family health information and emergency contact information, and an 18-page planning guide.
• Questions and Answers On Avian Influenza ("Bird Flu") and Food Safety (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
  
  Find answers to questions about food safety and risk of infection from infected poultry.
• Interim Guidance about Avian Influenza A (H5N1) for U.S. Citizens Living Abroad (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Receive guidance on travel, food preparation, and what to do if you have been exposed to avian influenza.
• Advice for People Living in Areas Affected by Bird Flu or Avian Influenza (PDF - 60.1 KB) (World Health Organization)
  
  Understand how to limit the spread of bird flu or avian influenza.
• Stopping the Spread of Germs at Home, Work & School (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Discover good health habits to stop the spread of germs.
• Questions and Answers about using Personal Protective Equipment during Influenza Outbreaks, including Bird Flu (Avian Influenza) (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
  
  Find answers to questions about personal protective equipment and how it can prevent the spread of infection.

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For Travelers

• Travelers Health: Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Familiarize yourself with guidance on travel to infected areas
• Medical Information for Americans Traveling Abroad (U.S. Department of State)
  
  Discover what to do in case you become ill in a foreign country [NOTE: This page is not about pandemic or avian flu but the content could be relevant to pandemic and avian]

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For Employers and Employees

• Interim Guidance for Cargo Trucking Crews for the Prevention of Pandemic Influenza
  Interim guidance meant to inform and educate cargo trucking management and crew personnel about precautions to prevent workplace-related transmission of pandemic flu.
• Protect Poultry, Protect People: Basic Advice for Stopping the Spread of Avian Flu (PDF - 71 KB) (Food and Agriculture Organization)
  
  Sets out practices for people to help reduce the risk of disease in animals and humans.
• Antimicrobial Products to Disinfect Poultry and Other Facilities Against Avian (Bird) Flu (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
  
  Lists more than 90 disinfectant products that are typically used by the poultry industry to disinfect their facilities against avian influenza A viruses
• Interim Guidance for Protection of Persons Involved in U.S. Avian Influenza Outbreak Disease Control and Eradication Activities (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Read guidance for people involved in activities that could result in exposure to avian influenza-infected poultry, including flock culling, carcass disposal, and cleaning and disinfection of premises affected by avian influenza.
• Guidance for Protecting Workers Against Avian Flu (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
  
  Learn how employers can protect workers who might become exposed to avian flu.
• Avian Influenza: Protecting Poultry Workers at Risk (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
  
  Discover how employers can provide a safe environment for their poultry workers.
• Disposal of Domestic Birds Infected by Avian Influenza - An Overview of Considerations and Options (PDF - 458 KB) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
   
  This document outlines critical factors in the avian influenza disposal process and includes a variety of both on- and off-site disposal/treatment options, information on cleaning and disinfecting disposal equipment, guidance on transporting infected materials for disposal, and contact information for local and state environmental, agricultural, health, and emergency response organizations.
• Interim Guidelines for the Protection of Persons Handling Wild Birds with Reference to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 (USGS National Wildlife Health Center)
  
  Find how to reduce the risk of infection if you have to handle wild birds.
• Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Guidance for Healthcare Workers and Healthcare Employers (PDF - 405 KB) (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
• Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic  (PDF - 313 KB) (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
  
  Provides guidance and recommendations on infection control in the workplace, including information on engineering controls, work practices, and personal protective equipment, such as respirators and surgical masks.
• Health Insurer Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist 

  (PDF - 102.74 KB)
  
  Planning is organized according to business-related, employee-related, and communications-related activities.
• Travel Industry Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist 

  (PDF - 128.99 KB)
  
  This checklist is designed to aid travel industry personnel in preparing their business operations for a potential influenza pandemic.

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For Communities

• Checklist for Faith-Based & Community Organizations Preparedness
  Provides guidance for religious organizations, social service agencies that are faithbased, and community organizations for pandemic preparedness.
• Quarantine Executive Order Amendment (E.O. 13295) (The White House)
  
  Read the President's Executive Order relating to certain influenza viruses and quarantinable communicable diseases.
• Questions and Answers on the Executive Order Adding Potentially Pandemic Influenza Viruses to the List of Quarantinable Diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Understand what the President's Executive Order says through a series of questions and answers.
• History of Quarantine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Learn about the history of quarantine in the United States, and how yellow fever and cholera epidemics prompted Federal legislation that began the shift of quarantine responsibilities from local and state governments to the federal government.
• Legal Authorities for Control of Communicable Diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  U. S. Federal Laws for Control of Communicable Diseases

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For Health Professionals

• Summary of the Second WHO Consultation on Clinical Aspects of Human Infection with Avian Influenza (H5N1) Virus (PDF - 45.7 KB) (World Health Organization)
  
  Read how clinicians, epidemiologists, and other public health specialists around the world are working together to share medical information concerning human cases of H5N1.
• Interim Guidance on Planning for the Use of Surgical Masks and Respirators in Health Care Settings during an Influenza Pandemic
  Provides background information on influenza transmission, pathogenesis, and control. Gives recommendations on kinds of mask and respirators, as well as their proper use.
  
• Resources for Health Professionals: Avian Influenza (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Access resources for health professionals, including training, infection control in healthcare facilities, vaccination, treatment, and health education for patients.
• Checklists & Guidelines for Health Care Pandemic Planning
  Get planning checklists and guidelines for home care services, medical offices, clinics and other facilities.
• Collecting, Preserving and Shipping Specimens for the Diagnosis of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infection: Guide for Field Operations (World Health Organization)
  
  This protocol is designed to simplify the previously published guidelines on specimen collection, packing, and shipment to allow for ease of use at field level and to provide the data needed to confirm the diagnosis of A(H5N1) infection as specified/described in the case definitions recently produced by WHO.
• Transcript of Webcast Symposium on Avian Influenza for State Health Departments and Poultry Industry (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
  Read the transcript of a November 2004 symposium on avian influenza topics: public health impact of avian influenza, worker health and safety, food safety, and biosecurity on the farm.
• Respiratory Infectious Disease Information (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
  
  Review emergency plans for Veterans Health Affairs facilities.
• Questions and Answers about using Personal Protective Equipment during Influenza Outbreaks, including Bird Flu (Avian Influenza) (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
  
  Find answers to questions about personal protective equipment and how it can prevent the spread of infection.
• WHO Interim Infection Control Guideline for Health Care Facilities (PDF - 521 KB) (World Health Organization)
  
  The WHO has provided infection control guidance for health care workers in health care facilities who evaluate or provide care for patients with suspected or confirmed avian influenza infection, including H5N1.
• Information for Shipping International Diagnostic Specimens (Food and Agriculture Organization)
  
  Learn the requirements to correctly ship international specimens.
• Pandemic Flu Planning Guidance for MRC Units (Medical Reserve Corps)
  
  Read about the Pandemic Influenza Planning Guidance for Medical Reserve Corps Units that will be used to identify specific activities MRC units can do now to prepare for a Pandemic.

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 For Hunters

• What Hunters Should Know About Avian Influenza
  Learn about the safe preparation and cooking of game animals and the susceptibility of other animals to avian influenza.
• Avian Influenza (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
  
  Read a fact sheet prepared for hunters by the State of Washington.

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 State Contacts

• Contact Information for State Departments of Agriculture, Wildlife, and Public Health
  Find information on how to contact the departments in your state, by mail and by phone. When available, fax numbers and Web addresses are also provided.

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