Risk managers and their insurers could face big losses if they fail to prepare properly for a possible flu pandemic, medical and risk management experts warn.

While the current concern is focused on the avian flu strain--clinically referred to as H5N1--the world is not prepared for a severe outbreak of the flu, according to Dr. Myles Druckman with International SOS, a medical risk management solution provider, during a recent webinar sponsored by Chicago-based insurance broker Aon on "Influenza: Exploding The Myths."

Those who had firsthand experience with the 2003 outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Asia--when flights were quarantined and travel to infected areas was stopped--are better prepared for the fallout of flu, according to Dr. Druckman. Firms that had to adapt to that crisis have been making plans for a flu pandemic, but most of the rest of the world has not, he contends.

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