The next pandemic will occur. It is not a question of if, but when. Will it happen next year? In two years? Ten? Or perhaps twenty? The experts don't have the answer to when it will happen again. Though everyone agrees it is just a matter of time. Time and the right conditions combined with our ability to travel to every corner of the planet in a short time has increased the potential for it occurring sooner rather than later.
We've come close already, but we got lucky. Lucky because the last pandemic (H1N1) turned out to be far less lethal and impactful than first anticipated. It wasn't stopped from spreading and couldn't be contained, it was just less lethal.
In fact it spread very quickly from just seven initial cases in Mexico to several in the Southwest United Stated in April of 2009 to 2,099 confirmed cases by May 7, 2009. By June 11, 2009 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the first pandemic since 1968.
The next pandemic to occur especially if it has a high mortality rate will cause a wide variety of impacts. We like to call this impact The Pandemic Effect.
The overall purpose of this site is to raise awareness of these impacts - The Pandemic Effect, and to provide resources to mitigate the potential future impact of the next pandemic. Can this be done? That is hard to say.
We feel even well prepared people will succumb to the psychological and physiological impacts known as The Pandemic Effect once this crisis is upon us.
