What is different between 1918 and now that suggests pandemic influenza might go differently?
There have been many advances in the detection and tracking of influenza. • Diagnosis and patient care has improved since then. • Antiviral medicines did not exist in 1918 and could help in an influenza pandemic today. • Influenza vaccines have been developed since 1918 and could help in an influenza pandemic. The world’s population is denser and global travel is much greater than in 1918. • Faster movement of more people could speed the spread of a new influenza virus. • Economic effects would be felt around the world more quickly than in 1918. • Population density, especially in major cities, is greater now than it was in 1918, and even remote areas of the globe are more accessible. It is difficult to predict how the next influenza pandemic might differ from the past. • The severity of pandemic influenza would depend on the virus that causes it. • Increased travel and greater population could speed the spread of pandemic influenza. • Better detection and medical treatment could lesse
