The Threat of an Avian Influenza Pandemic

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Abstract
There have been three influenza pandemics during the past century — in 1918, 1957, and 1968. Although the severity of the epidemics and the primary age groups affected varied, each was caused by a novel type A virus of avian origin. In 1957 and 1968, the new viruses had components of previous human viruses as well as avian viruses. The genome of the influenzavirus is made up of eight segments of RNA, and it was determined retrospectively that in both cases, there had been a reassortment of avian and human genes — most likely the result of the coinfection of . . .