What is the difference between regular (seasonal) influenza that is around every year and novel pandemic or avian influenza?
Influenza virus circulates in humans every year, usually in winter. Several times each century, a strain that is new to humans originates from the re-assortment of a human and animal (sometimes bird or avian) strains. These new or novel strains cause pandemics that can be very serious, because humans have little pre-existing immunity to them and vaccines and antiviral medications take time to develop, supply, and distribute. The 1918–1919 pandemic caused as many as 500,000 deaths in the United States and 50 million globally. Public health experts around the world and within VA are taking steps to prepare for a pandemic of novel influenza.
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