ACDP | Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens |
A/H5 N1 | A highly pathogenic avian influenza virus |
BIS | British Infection Society |
BTS | British Thoracic Society |
CCA | Civil Contingencies Act 2004 |
CCC | Civil Contingencies Committee |
CCO | Civil Contingencies Committee Officials |
CPHM | Consultant in Public Health Medicine |
CCS | Civil Contingencies Secretariat |
CfI | HPA Centre for Infections |
CMO | Chief Medical Officer(s) |
COBR | Cabinet Office Briefing Room |
COI | Central Office of Information |
COSHH | Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (Regulations) 2002 |
DAs | Devolved Administration(s) |
DCLG | Department for Communities and Local Government |
Defra | Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
DfES | Department for Education and Skills |
DFID | Department for International Development |
DPH | Director of Public Health |
EC | European Commission |
ECDC | European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control |
EISS | European Influenza Surveillance Scheme |
EMEA | European Agency for Evaluation of Medicinal Products |
EU | European Union |
EWRS | Early Warning and Response System ( of European network) |
FAO | United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation |
FCO | Foreign and Commonwealth Office |
FDA | Food and Drug Administration ( US) |
FFP | International normative standard for respirators |
FSA | Financial Services Authority |
GDP | Gross Domestic Product |
GHSAG | Global Health Security Action Group |
GP | General Medical Practitioner |
HB | Local Health Board |
HDU | High Dependency Unit in acute hospitals |
HPA | Health Protection Agency |
HPAI | High Pathogenic Avian Influenza |
HPS | Health Protection Scotland |
HSE | Health and Safety Executive |
ICT | Infection Control Team |
ICU | Intensive Care Unit |
IHRs | International Health Regulations (2005) |
ITU | Intensive Therapy Unit |
LA | Local Authority |
LGD | Local Government Departments |
LPAI | Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza |
LRF (s) | Local Resilience Forum(s) |
MISC | Ministerial Committee |
MRC | Medical Research Council |
MS | Member States |
NCC | Government News Co-ordination Centre |
NCL | National Collaborating Laboratories |
NEPNI | National Expert Panel on New and Emerging Infections |
NHS | National Health Service |
NHS Direct | |
NHS Direct Wales | National Health Service telephone helplines |
NHS 24 (Scotland) | |
NIBSC | National Institute for Biological Standards and Control |
NIMR | National Institute for Medical Research |
NIRL | National Influenza Reference Laboratory |
OGDs | Other Government Departments |
OIE | World Organisation for Animal Health |
PPE | Personal Protective Equipment |
Ro | Basic Reproduction Number |
SAG | Scientific Advisory Group |
SARS | Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome |
SE | Scottish Executive |
SE | Scottish Executive Environment & Rural Affairs Department |
SEHD | Scottish Executive Health Department |
SEJD | Scottish Executive Justice Department |
SI | Situation Report |
UK | United Kingdom |
UK | United Kingdom National Influenza Pandemic Committee |
US | United States of America |
VLA | Veterinary Laboratories Agency |
WHO | World Health Organisation |
Antiviral medicine | Type of medicine used to treat influenza |
Attack rate | Cumulative incidence rate of people infected observed for limited periods under special circumstances, such as during an epidemic |
Asymptomatic | Infected but no symptoms |
Case fatality rate | Proportion of individuals contracting a disease who die from it |
Clinical attack rate | The cumulative incidence rate of people showing symptoms |
Containment | Measures to limit the spread of infection and restrict an outbreak to the affected area(s) |
Countermeasures | Measures to counter the effect of the illness/infection |
Epidemic | A disease attacking or affecting many individuals in a community or a population simultaneously |
Epidemiology | The study of the patterns, causes and control of disease in groups of people |
Epidemiological Models | Consideration of how the disease will spread and the effectiveness of countermeasures |
Exit/entry | Surveillance to detect individuals who develop signs of |
Screening | illness (influenza) whilst exiting or entering the country |
Hand hygiene | Hand washing with soap and water to remove dirt and germs or use of alcohol based products containing an emollient that do not require the use of water |
Infectivity | The potential for a given micro-organism to cause an infection i.e. the ability of the organism to enter, survive and multiply in people/ the proportion of exposures to infection that result in disease |
Isolation | Separation of individuals infected with a communicable disease from those who are not in order to prevent further spread |
Modelling(risk) | Mapping out a range of possible risks to suggest which responses are robust over the range of uncertainty |
'Operational' models | The mechanics of how countermeasures can be implemented |
Outbreak | Sudden appearance, or increase, of a disease in a specific geographic area or population. An epidemic limited to localised increase in the incidence of disease, e.g. in a village, town, or closed institution; a cluster of cases of an infectious disease |
Pandemic | A worldwide epidemic when a new or novel strain of influenza virus emerges to which people have little or no immunity, which develops the ability to infect and be passed between humans |
Pathogenic | The ability to cause disease |
Prophylaxis | Prevention of disease or of a process that can lead to disease. With respect to pandemic influenza this specifically refers to the administration of antiviral or other medicines or vaccines to healthy individuals to prevent influenza |
Quarantine | Separation of those who have been exposed to a communicable infection but are not yet ill from others who have not been exposed to the infection in order to prevent further spread |
Re-assortment | The fragmentation and reassembly of the genetic material of two similar viruses infecting the same cell to produce a new virus strain |
Respirator | A face mask incorporating a filter. In this document it implies a particulate respirator, usually of a disposable type and often used in hospital to protect against inhaling infectious agents. Particulate respirators are 'air-purifying respirators' because they clean particles out of the air as one breathes |
Segregation | Separation from others (in this case influenza cases from non influenza cases) |
Social distancing | Infection control strategies that reduce the duration and/or the intimacy of social contacts and thereby limit the transmission of influenza |
Surge capacity | The ability to expand provision beyond normal capacity to meet transient increases in demand, e.g. to provide care or services above usual capacity, or to expand manufacturing capacity to meet increased demand |
Surgical mask | Disposable face masks that provide a physical barrier but no filtration |
Surveillance | Close and continuous observation or testing. Monitoring health and disease in a population by collecting and using health data |
Symptomatic | Showing symptoms/indications of disease or illness |
Transmission | Process of the spread of a disease through a population. |
Treatment course | A course of medicines prescribed as treatment (not prophylaxis) for a person infected |
Viraemia | Refers to the existence of viruses or viral particles in the bloodstream |
Virulence | The ability of a micro-organism to cause disease |
Wave | The period during which an outbreak or epidemic occurs either within a community or aggregated across a larger geographical area. The disease wave includes the time during which the disease occurrence increase rapidly, peaks, and declines back towards baseline. |