Influenza
Influenza is estimated to cause three to five million cases and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths worldwide each year. The most severe influenza pandemic, in 1918, infected up to 50 percent of the world’s population and caused 20 to 50 million deaths worldwide. The use of antiviral drugs can lessen the severity of disease. Vaccines against seasonal influenza are made yearly to defend against currently circulating strains; however, vaccines that can be produced quickly, affordably, and in mass quantity to respond to a potential influenza pandemic in real-time are not yet available.
More about influenza | View resources on influenza
Key resources
The Compelling Need for Game-Changing Influenza Vaccines: An Analysis of the Influenza Vaccine Enterprise and Recommendations for the Future (2012)
A report that identifies recommendations essential to moving the international influenza vaccine enterprise toward critically needed novel-antigen, game-changing vaccines.
Airborne Transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Between Ferrets (2012)
An article about a study investigating the potential of avian influenza A/H5N1 to become transmissible by aerosol or respiratory droplet between humans.
Featured PATH resources
Advancing New Technologies Against a Global Threat (2012)
A fact sheet that highlights PATH's work to advance the development of promising new influenza vaccines that can be accessible and affordable to people in low-resource countries.
More About Influenza (2012)
A web page that provides a link to PATH's work on influenza, as well as general information about the disease and the current vaccine landscape.
Page last updated: February 2013.
