Preparing for the inevitable — an influenza pandemic

Abstract

The world is currently at 'Global Phase 3' of the World Health Organization's influenza pandemic alert phases, where human disease due to a novel strain of influenza is occurring, but there is no good evidence of human-to-human transmission. Given the instability of the influenza virus, the world is waiting for the first influenza pandemic of the twenty-first century. It is thus timely to consider the threat of the next influenza pandemic, the means for combating it and our readiness to deploy these measures.