OTTAWA, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin warned health ministers Tuesday that the world must be armed against both influenza and panic.
Martin addressed health ministers and officials from 30 countries on the closing day of a two-day conference on pandemic influenza, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
"Among the most profound challenges we face is communication with our own citizens," he said. "Public fear and bad information can all too easily snowball into panic."
Martin also said that health officials in developed countries should not be complacent, believing that vaccines and modern drugs can curb a pandemic. He said the world is much smaller than in 1918, when an influenza pandemic killed about 50 million people worldwide.
As an example, he pointed to the SARS outbreak in Toronto, with the disease brought from China by air travelers.
