Pandemic Influenza

Abstract

This chapter deals with the nature of pandemic influenza, and demonstrates that in spite of the cavalier approach that frequently characterizes popular attitudes (“Oh, it’s nothing, just a touch of the flu”), influenza is a serious disease that must not be taken lightly. In fact, influenza caused the greatest pandemic in humanity’s history in terms of the actual number of deaths. The misnamed “Spanish Flu” of 1918, in contrast to most influenza pandemics that target infants and the elderly, hit especially hard among younger adults, and caused more deaths than any great war. Worldwide, it killed more than the Second World War, and did so in a brief period.

What happened before can happen again, and given the nature of influenza, it could recur in even more virulent form. Moreover, there are other viral infections that could ultimately prove to be even more of a threat.

America expends considerable resources guarding against terrorist attacks that might occur. This is appropriate, but what is not appropriate is that the country spends relatively little against pandemics that assuredly will take place at some time.