What is the difference between seasonal, avian and pandemic flu?
Answer It is important to be clear about the differences between seasonal flu, avian flu and pandemic flu. Avian flu is a disease which mainly affects birds. Seasonal flu refers to the viruses that circulate in the human population and cause widespread illness each winter. Pandemic flu occurs infrequently, when a new influenza virus emerges which is markedly different from those recently circulating in the human population, causes disease in people and spreads easily between people because they have little or no immunity to it. This could happen through an avian flu virus (such as H5N1) mutating into a different strain with greater affinity for people.
