|
Pandemic Flu
A pandemic is a global disease outbreak or epidemic of
infectious disease that spreads through populations
across a large region. A flu pandemic occurs when a new
influenza virus emerges for which people have little or
no immunity, and for which there is no vaccine. The
disease spreads easily person-to-person, causing serious
illness, and can sweep across the country and around the
world in very short time.
It is difficult to predict when the next influenza
pandemic will occur or how severe it will be. Wherever
and whenever a pandemic starts, everyone around the
world is at risk. Countries might, through measures such
as border closures and travel restrictions, delay
arrival of the virus, but cannot stop it. The world has
seen several pandemics in the last 100 years, such as
Cholera, Influenza (Bird Flu), Typhus, HIV/AIDS, SARS,
and most recently, the H1N1 or Swine Flu.
|
