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What is the likelihood of a flu pandemic?
The evolution of flu viruses cannot be predicted. This makes it difficult to know
if or when a virus might mutate to become easily transmittable among humans.
Therefore, it is impossible to say when another pandemic will
arise, or whether it will be mild or severe.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) asserts that once a virus allows for
efficient human-to-human transmission, a pandemic can occur. Because of high
global mobility and interconnection, illness could spread quickly and, if the
virus has a high fatality rate, threaten millions of lives around the world.10
A lesson from the past
Pandemics are a reality. Health records show at least 10 influenza pandemics
over the past 300 years.11
1732-1733
1781-1782
1800-1802
1830-1833
1847-1848
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1857-1858
1889-1900
1918-1919
1957-1958
1968-1969
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12 |
A monitoring system has been created showing the levels of severity of a flu
pandemic, learn what the levels are.
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Tell-A-Colleague
