WHAT IS A FLU PANDEMIC?

Pandemics, sometimes referred to as pandemic flu, differ from seasonal flu because of what each is caused by. Seasonal flu is caused by flu viruses that already exist among us. Since people will get this type of flu yearly, we have immunity and the ability to fight it. However, pandemic flu is caused by newly formed virus types that are foreign to our bodies; as a result, the human immune system is unable to fight the virus effectively. Since humans can’t fight the virus, a pandemic is born. One of the earliest recorded pandemics occurred in 1918, and since then there’s been a brief but prolific history of pandemics.

H1N1 Virus (aka Swine Flu) Pandemic

The latest pandemic is the swine flu, or novel H1N1 influenza A virus. H1N1 was first detected in the U.S. in April 2009 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 11, 2009. While it’s a different strain than the common seasonal influenza virus, you should take the same precautions you would use with seasonal flu.

For more information on pandemic flu, please visit
http://www.pandemicflu.gov.

For more information about about swine flu, please visit
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm