In 2009, THE H1N1 influenza pandemic claimed more than 14,000 people worldwide. This outbreak was still relatively mild, with a mortality rate of about one in 10,000 people who developed the disease. However, scientists and health officials agree - the question we need to ask is when, and not if, the next influenza pandemic will strike.
Researchers are hard at work looking for what type of virus might become the next pandemic, where it most likely will emerge and who its most likely victims will be.
Pandemic vs. Seasonal Flu
The basic dynamics of how these diseases are spread are still being researched. And because small mutations can alter how they spread and their virulence dramatically, our knowledge of these deadly flu strains is constantly changing. A single mutation, for example, can make a flu strain resistant to approved antiviral medications like Tamiflu.
One of the scariest things about influenza pandemics when compared to the seasonal flu is that they have a tendency to sicken and kill the young and seemingly healthy, who would otherwise fall into a low-risk category for seasonal flu. Some researchers have linked underlying risk factors, including heart disease and neurological conditions, with higher fatality rates. For example, a survey of global data following the H1N1 pandemic found that chronic conditions were reported among more than 40 percent of people who were hospitalized for the flu and later died.
Because there is such a dramatic difference in how one person will react to a flu virus, even compared to someone else in the same household, researchers are looking at what makes one healthy adult able to fight off the disease at home, while another ends up hospitalized.