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ANATOMY OF A PANDEMIC WETA Washington, D.C., the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital, and “PBS NewsHour,” one of the most trusted news programs in television, are partnering for Anatomy of a Pandemic, a television special and on-going digital medial initiative about the overarching human dimension of a pandemic’s impact on modern society and the science and history of these health crises, in response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus pandemic. Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for “PBS NewsHour,” will report for the special. Anatomy of a Pandemic airs on Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 at 9 p.m. on Eight/KAET. The production will follow the pandemic on the ground, sifting through all of the conflicting information with the authority of leading experts and policy makers. Final program details will be available closer to broadcast; all details herein are subject to change. Anatomy of a Pandemic will carefully examine the major issues surrounding the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus outbreak, commonly referred to as “swine flu”, using the current pandemic to explore best practices for the U.S. and other world governments when faced with any widespread health emergency. Suarez will report from the front lines of the effort to combat this outbreak — from federal vaccination headquarters and state command and control centers to big city hospital emergency rooms where the first waves of serious cases will appear. The program will contextualize the current outbreak with pandemics of the past, including the 1918 influenza pandemic that caused between 50 and 100 million deaths worldwide and a 1976 government-mandated vaccine program that was shut down due to dangerous side effects. “Anatomy of a Pandemic” will focus as well on the science of influenza, including the development and implementation of the current H1N1 vaccine, next generation vaccine techniques, and the quest to create a potential universal vaccine. 2009 H1N1 is a new influenza virus with over a million cases worldwide so far. The disease came to worldwide attention with a serious outbreak in Mexico City in March 2009; in April 2009, this new contagious virus was first detected in people in the United States; on June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that a pandemic of 2009 H1N1 flu was underway. At the time of this release, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 41 states have reported geographically widespread influenza activity and there have been more than 5,300 H1N1-related fatalities worldwide, more than 1,000 of those in the Unites States. Experts involved with Anatomy of a Pandemic include leading U.S. influenza officials from the CDC and other health organizations, writers and historians. Among those specialists are the following individuals (subject to change):
Anatomy of a Pandemic is a co-production of WETA Washington, D.C., “PBS NewsHour” and Production Group Inc. The executive producers are Dalton Delan and Jeff Bieber. The producer, director and writer is Larry Klein. The co-producer and co-writer is Mark Olshaker. The program correspondent is Ray Suarez. The editor of the Online NewsHour is Lee Banville. Funding for Anatomy of a Pandemic is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The program website for Anatomy of a Pandemic will be a coproduction with the Online NewsHour at pbs.org/newshour. Among the content featured there will be the ongoing H1N1-related reporting from “PBS NewsHour”, full video and additional interviews from the documentary, resources for further health information and user-generated audio interview programs with experts from the documentary and health care experts in the field. An electronic press kit, including downloadable photos for promotional use and biographical information about key experts, is available at pressroom.pbs.org.
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