Pandemic Influenza: Potential Contribution to Disease Burden

Abstract

Records of disease outbreaks resembling influenza date to the writings of Hippocrates (fifth century BPE). Since then, influenza has afflicted humans around the globe. The most severe (“Spanish Flu” 10.1007/978-0-387-78665-0_6287) of three major outbreaks of the twentieth century killed approximately 20–50 million people worldwide. More recently, the global spread of highly pathogenic bird-adapted strain H5N1 is considered a significant pandemic threat. Since 2003, a total of 379 cases and 239 deaths have been reported. This chapter provides an overview of the genetic characteristics of the virus that elucidate its ability to continuously evade a host’s immune system; it describes some of the approaches used to quantify the burden of influenza and discusses their implications for the prevention and containment of future pandemics. The preliminary findings of the studies discussed here suggest that influenza-related burden is highly underestimated in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. This implicates that proper assessment of influenza-related morbidity and mortality worldwide is essential in planning and allocating resources to protect against what could be one of mankind’s most devastating challenges. A summary of learned lessons from past influenza pandemics are described and new intervention strategies aim at curtailing a future pandemic are discussed. More importantly, however, is the discussion of today’s challenges such as antiviral resistance, limited resources in a world that is globally connected and the imminent gap between the capacity (resources available) of developed and developing parts of the world to respond to a pandemic.