The PBS television series News Hour recently outlined why the next influenza pandemic is a matter of “when,” not “if.”
The most recent influenza pandemic came with the emergence of a novel H1N1 virus in 2009, which caused an estimated 151,700 to 575,400 deaths worldwide according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the global public health community is researching new ways to prevent and fight flu, the recent News Hour report highlights the inevitability a next pandemic influenza virus.
The News Hour report included a segment on the recent advances in the development of a universal flu vaccine, which could offer protection against all strains of the influenza virus across many years.
