title: [The French Committee for the prevention and control of influenza and the 2009 influenza pandemic: Lessons learnt].
abstract: The Committee for the Prevention and Control of Influenza (Comité de lutte contre la Grippe - CLCG) is an advisory committee to the French Health Minister for a medical and scientific collective expertise on the measures to be implemented to control or to reduce the impact of an epidemic or a pandemic of influenza. Appointed by decree, the CLCG consists of ex-officio members; representatives of French Agencies strongly involved by influenza and qualified personalities, representing various fields of expertise. Collective expertise is based on consensus after thorough collective discussion. A notice is drafted in reply to every official question and passed on either to the Chief Medical Officer, or, when the question concerns vaccines, to the Technical Committee of the vaccinations for which the CLCG acted as a working group. The CLCG was extremely active throughout the pandemic. The objective of this article is to describe in a factual way its output throughout this period of sanitary crisis. This article presents and compare chronologically and in a factual way the state of the scientific knowledge about influenza due to the A(H1N1)pdm09 virus and the CLCG notices. Between the alert launched by the WHO the 24th of April and the 31st of December 2009, CLCG met on 40 occasions. Its work dealt in particular with patient care, recommendations on medical treatment (antivirals, seasonal and pandemic vaccines), and on virological diagnosis. Whatever the defects of its expertise delivered in a context of urgency, which was a difficult exercise, the CLCG fulfilled its advisory to the health authorities. However, the pandemic experience showed that this expertise must be improved by insuring the recognition and the visibility of the advisory committee and by defining their exact position in the chain of decision.
authors.affiliation: Comité de lutte contre la grippe, 75350 Paris 07 SP, France. jean-claude.manuguerra@pasteur.fr
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Manuguerra
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mosnier
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Autran
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fleury
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Veyssier
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Patey
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weil-Olivier
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beytout
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bensoussan
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicand
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees / Q000145:classification / Q000458:organization & administration; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000276:immunology; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D058873:Pandemics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011050:Policy Making; D011159:Population Surveillance; D014611:Vaccination; D014944:World Health Organization
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007252:Influenza Vaccines