Genetic immunity and influenza pandemics

Investing in Immunity: Prepandemic Immunization to Combat Future Influenza Pandemics.

We are unlikely, with current technologies, to have sufficient pandemic influenza vaccine ready in time to impact the first wave of the next pandemic. Emerging data show that prior immunization with an immunologically distinct hemagglutinin of the same subtype offers the potential to "prime" recipients for rapid protection with a booster dose, years later, of a vaccine then manufactured to matc...

Avian influenza and influenza pandemics.

1 Coordinator, Risk Containment, Mapping and Drug Resistance, Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (email: [email protected]). Correspondence should be sent to this author. 2 Project Leader, Global Influenza Programme, Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Ref. No. 04-012...

History of Influenza Pandemics

Influenza pandemics have been amongst the largest and the deadliest epidemics in the history of man, and were observed already in ancient times. For example, records from the fifth century B.C. suggest that influenza pandemics were observed in ancient Greece. In Europe, during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, numerous concordant reports from different countries describe epidemics of respira...

Stockpiling Ventilators for Influenza Pandemics

Stockpiling Ventilators for Influenza Pandemics

In preparing for influenza pandemics, public health agencies stockpile critical medical resources. Determining appropriate quantities and locations for such resources can be challenging, given the considerable uncertainty in the timing and severity of future pandemics. We introduce a method for optimizing stockpiles of mechanical ventilators, which are critical for treating hospitalized influen...