The deaths, sickness, fear, and loss of community and business activity notwithstanding, the current flu pandemic is serving a valuable and necessary educational role. And our public and private pandemic preparedness and response capabilities should emerge in a much more robust state as a result.

For example, the following educational nugget came out of the mouth of a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson minutes ago and is already on my laptop screen: “The definition of a pandemic is widespread disease. The word carries no connotation of whether it is severe or mild. In the past, we’ve had both severe and mild pandemics.”

Thanks to the blogging of Wall Street Journal health writer Jacob Goldstein, who is covering (live) a presentation by the director of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research, some of us learned an important distinction.

Yes, our organizational, individual, and media responses to the flu outbreak are imperfect. In the English language, “pandemic” sounds and looks a lot like “panic.” Reactions are part of the learning process. Use this event to help strengthen your organization’s BCM and disaster recovery capabilities. ###