Why the H1N1 pandemic is not the only serious health threat we're facing

When the WHO declared that H1N1 had reached phase 6 on its scale of pandemic alerts, the world's media went into overdrive. While the predicted widespread panic has not yet materialized, fears are still running high ahead of the full scale winter flu season.

Given this, it's worth putting the pandemic threat into context. H1N1 has killed more than 6200 people worldwide since April, a figure that appears high until you consider that according to CDC estimates, between 36,000 and 40,000 people are killed every year by garden-variety seasonal flu. Because seasonal flu - by definition - happens seasonally, and the people it kills tend to be older and with underlying health problems, these deaths don't make the headlines.

Among the other leaders on the list of unacknowledged killers are hospital-acquired infections, often referred to as the ‘hidden epidemic'. According to the CDC again, HAIs kill nearly 100,000 people each year, far more than any type of flu. The most shocking thing about this figure is the prevention of HAIs often comes down to something as simple as reminding hospital staff to wash their hands.

HAIs are not the only way to die unnecessarily in hospital - surgical errors also claim an estimated 100,000 lives each year in the US. Again, it would seem that the remedy is simple: merely a matter of having the correct checklists and procedures in place and ensuring good communication among OR staff. However, as Richard Karl, Founder and Chairman of the Surgical Safety Institute, explains in this issue, the reality is not so straightforward.

Karl points out that the problem can begin as early as medical school, where the type of person attracted to a surgical career is not one who responds well to an increase in administrative procedures, or to having their potential errors pointed out by junior staff members.

It's clear that H1N1 is not the only major health issue we have to worry about. While we shouldn't discount its potential to become more deadly, we should also not underestimate the serious nature of these other health challenges. They may not be as newsworthy, but their effects are just as devastating for the victims and their families.