Athlone IT lecturer warned of pandemic threat in 2005

The prospect of a pandemic such as Covid-19 sweeping through an ill-prepared world is something an Athlone IT lecturer warned about in a letter to the Westmeath Independent all of fifteen years ago.

Professor Neil Rowan, an Athlone native who lives in Coosan, wrote to the newspaper in August 2005 to question the global preparedness for a severe animal flu pandemic.

His letter outlined his concerns around "the possible emergence of so-called 'global-killer' respiratory viruses in Ireland," and how this could place huge demands on our "over-stretched" health service.  

"To the uninformed, this may appear as innocuous, or sensationalistic media hype, but if certain events were to unfold there may be dramatic consequences," wrote Professor Rowan at the time.

"I feel compelled to comment on the significance to public health of this potential threat and in so doing promote its awareness."

He predicted in 2005 that the impact to public health of "highly virulent forms of bird flu" could be "orders of magnitude more severe than what we are currently experiencing with hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA and VRE."

"Unfortunately, these invisible viruses don't require a visa or passport as they can enter our country and freely mingle among us using a multiplicity of routes," he wrote.

"Irrespective of how they arrive, it is likely that our already over-stretched health services may not adequately cope with the emergence of highly-virulent bird flu that have a propensity for society's highly vulnerable groups."

He predicted at the time that countries across Europe could be severely affected also. "I feel that most if not all of our EU neighbours will equally struggle to cope with implementing effective counter-measures to control the spread of such superbugs," he wrote. 

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Professor Rowan, who is Director of the Bioscience Research Institute at AIT, said his 2005 letter was prompted by concerns which arose from studying "global trends in terms of commerce, innovation and animal husbandry."

He had been "looking at the emergence of viruses, particularly in countries such as China and neighbouring countries, due to animals and humans (being in) close proximity, and the mixing of viruses there, leading to the emergence of some respiratory viruses."

"My concern was, had we thought about universal preparedness for such a thing, should it land?" he said.

He recalled that his warnings were not of "major interest" at the time. However, the level of attention being paid to the topic has now increased exponentially.  

"I think moving forward the world will have changed, because there's always the probability of something like (Covid-19) re-emerging," he commented.