With each pandemic, researchers, public health experts and international organizations have gained a better understanding of the complexity and dynamics of influenza pandemics. With the improvement of surveillance and reporting systems, more data and characteristics of viruses can be documented than was possible a decade ago.
Researchers and public health experts are continuously learning more about the influenza virus, vaccines and response measures, and this knowledge is used to improve capacities related to both seasonal and pandemic influenza. Much of the knowledge acquired may also be applied to other areas of disease surveillance or to respond to other health threats.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4364426/
Our national interests and public health are inextricably tied to those living in epidemic hot spots. Attacking epidemics at their source lowers the infection reservoir and helps prevent international spread. Although raging infectious diseases seem a world away, the smart course is to bring the epidemic under control rather than seal borders.
Unfortunately, these ethical preparedness efforts have been of limited utility to-date. While numerous scholars have identified and explored a range of important ethical issues, data indicate that ethical considerations are not regularly incorporated into actual pandemic preparedness plans.6 The consequences of this failure have yet to be felt for H5N1, since the virus remains only a potential threat. But with H1N1 influenza (swine origin) rapidly emerging as a real global public health danger, the current situation presents an interesting opportunity to assess how our public health system reacts under pressure, allowing us to ask important questions about how, and to what extent, policy-makers are incorporating ethical considerations into their deliberative processes.7
Pandemics in History
The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States.
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