Seasonal influenza (flu)
Seasonal influenza is a highly infectious disease, which spreads in humans around the world in seasonal epidemics, affecting 10 to 20% of the total population. The most important strains of human influenza virus are A and B. Influenza virus A has several subtypes, of which two, H1N1 and H3N2, are currently of epidemiological significance. WHO recommends annual immunization of at-risk persons as the best and most cost-effective strategy for reducing influenza-related morbidity and mortality?
Pandemic Influenza
A pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges and starts spreading as easily as seasonal influenza - by coughing and sneezing. Because the virus is new, the human immune system will have no pre-existing immunity. This makes it likely that people who contract pandemic influenza will experience more serious disease than that caused by seasonal influenza.
Influenza pandemic is a rare but recurrent event. Only influenza A viruses have so far caused pandemics. Threepandemics occurred in the previous century: "Spanish influenza" in 1918, Asian influenza in 1957 and "Hong Kong" influenza in 1968. The 1918 pandemic killed an estimated 40-50 million people worldwide. That pandemic, which was exceptional, is considered one of the deadliest disease events in human history.
Subsequent pandemics were much milder, with an estimate 2 million deaths in 1957 and 1 million deaths in 1968.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OF PANDEMIC & AVIAN FLU PLEASE VISIT THE WEBSITES:
Pandemic Flu :
Avian Flu:
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