A series of six one-hour video lectures featuring Georgia Health Sciences University faculty are helping educate the public, including primary care physicians statewide, about seasonal and pandemic flu.

The videos, funded by the Georgia Division of Public Health, cover a wide range of topics - from basics of pandemic flu to triage protocols. Pandemic flu results when a new, rapidly spreading virus is introduced into a population with no pre-existing immunity.

"Flu, in reality, is a very complex topic," said Dr. Jim Wilde, GHSU Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of Pediatrics. "We want to help ensure that primary care doctors, who take care of the vast majority of patients who have the flu, have easy access to the latest information."

The State Health Department awarded a contract to Wilde and the GHSU Department of Emergency Medicine to produce the lectures, which were made available online last month.

The most severe pandemic in world history was the Spanish Flu, which hit in 1918. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu virus was mild in comparison, Wilde said.

The videos provide up-to-date information and give physicians a perspective on what a severe pandemic would look like.

"We tried to answer questions like, 'Why would it be that bad?' 'How many would die?' and 'What are the ramifications of pandemic flu?,'" Wilde said. "We also tried to make the answers to those questions understandable to the general public."

To view the videos, visit here. They will also be available online by GHSU's Division of Continuing Education. Each video will be worth one unit of continuing medical education credit.

Source:
Georgia Health Sciences University