Influenza viruses are changing continuously and new strains emerge from time to time. If a new influenza virus subtype, that is very different from all previous viruses, emerges and causes disease in the human population, people will have little or no specific immunity to it, and consequently this virus may spread quickly and become a […]
Pandemic outbreaks of influenza have caused a huge burden of disease in 1918, 1957 and in 1968 with estimated numbers of fatal cases of about 40, 2 and 1 million people worldwide respectively. There is no reason to believe that future pandemics would not have a similar impact. Furthermore there is no way to predict […]
In the past, new strains have generated pandemics causing high death rates and major disruptions to society. Although healthcare has improved in recent decades, epidemiological models project that today a pandemic is likely to result in 2 to 7.4 million deaths globally. In developed countries alone, accounting for 15% of the world’s population, models project […]
Get vaccinated! Influenza vaccination is the best way to reduce chances of getting ill from influenza and from giving influenza to patients, co-workers and family. Indications are that vaccination against seasonal influenza at least partially protects against possible pandemic influenza strains. Also consider this: if one third of the population receives its annual shot with […]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an alert system to help inform the world about the development of the different stages towards a pandemic. The alert system is comprised of six phases. The current situation with the HPAI-H5N1 virus in animals and humans places the world in pandemic alert phase 3. This means that […]
Detailed planning is essential to ensure a coordinated response to an influenza pandemic, both at the national and international levels. Should schools be closed to prevent influenza from spreading? What about hospital capacity in case of a severe pandemic? How can we track the pandemic virus as it spreads? How and to whom will the […]
Since it is impossible to vaccinate the entire world population against a pandemic influenza virus when a pandemic emerges, it is necessary to determine which groups must be immunized with priority. After all, effective allocation of vaccines will play a critical role in slowing down the spread of the influenza pandemic and reducing its effects […]
When a new influenza virus appears, against which the human population has no immunity, a pandemic may occur. This happened in 1918 (the “Spanish flu”, caused by an H1N1 subtype), in 1957 (the “Asian flu” caused by an H2N2 subtype) and in 1968 (the “Hong Kong flu”, caused by an H3N2 subtype). Of all pandemics, […]
An influenza pandemic is a global outbreak of influenza and occurs when a new influenza virus emerges, spreads and causes disease worldwide. Influenza A viruses continuously undergo antigenic evolution. There are two main mechanisms by which they do so: antigenic drift causes regular influenza epidemics, while antigenic shift is the cause of occasional global outbreaks […]