A Flu Pandemic Could Directly Threaten Humanity at Any Time.    What will you do?   Do you know:

• Which Face Masks protect against this virus and which do not?   
  
• How a facemask is properly worn and discarded?
  
• How many face masks should be stocked?
  

At the time I write this, H1N1 is active around the globe.  It is a new virus for which most humans do not have immunity.  Symptoms are no worse than ordinary flu (any flu is horrible and can kill, as we know) but the fear is that it could combine with another existing flu that would change its characteristics, possible making it more deadly.

            Avian Flu is spreading in domestic and migratory birds.  It has spread to other species, including tigers, dogs, cats, sheep, pigs and humans.  Only one factor stands between this situation and a major world infectious catastrophe and that is the inability of the H5N1 Avian Flu virus to become easily transmitted from one human to another.   Virologists and molecular biologists tracking this virus, which continues to mutate, see signs that this transmissibility is close.  They are sounding the alarms.  We are told that governments are not prepared and that preparation efforts will probably fall short of what is needed in a global pandemic.
Experts agree that a pandemic is overdue and that this H5N1 virus is a serious contender.  We can hope that as it mutates and becomes contagious among humans it also loses it's virulence.  But we should not count on a best case scenario when the stakes are so high.

            Opinion: How many masks will you need?  For wearing in public, etc. a mask a day should do it.  If you are working with patients, masks should be worn once per patient encounter.  How many masks will the world need?  The short answer is there will be a severe shortage of N-95s and other masks. Yes, even in, hospitals. 

The answer for many to the question "What kind of mask?" will unfortunately be "Any kind you can get your hands on!"