Labor Law Center Blog » Blog Archive » Connecticut OSHA Alert

Connecticut OSHA Alert

May 1st, 2007 Posted by Amelia

People try to avoid appearing in public places or going to work if they are suffering from flu. As it happens, flu is contagious and if a patient does not isolate him or herself, they could start a domino effect and soon the whole office would be coughing and sneezing. Usually, influenza is not counted among workplace hazards, but in actuality, it is.

A recent Connecticut OSHA alert warns against the possibility of an influenza epidemic. A worldwide outbreak of a disease is called an epidemic. Usually, people have to suffer from flu in autumn or winter. However, there have been cases when it affects a large number of people all over the world. Hence, the employers and employees in Connecticut have been forewarned so that preventive measures can be taken.

The virus that causes flu is undergoing the process of evolution like every other living organism. Hence, new strains of flu virus manifest themselves every now and then. The most recent one occurred in 1957. The scientific community succeeded in containing it rather quickly, but a million people had lost their lives to it by then. The Spanish Influenza Epidemic took 25 weeks to control. In addition, 25,000,000 people had lost their lives in that outbreak. AIDS has caused the same number of deaths, but over a period of twenty-five years.

More recently, avian or bird flu has been plaguing poultry farmers. This kind of influenza is found in wild birds, but it can be transferred to the domestic ones in Asia, Africa and Europe. If an infected bird is consumed, it can infect the person who has eaten it, and that can be the beginning of an endemic in humans. Since this variety of virus is already known, it has not resulted in a high human death toll. Nevertheless, it has caused serious financial damage to international poultry farmers.