Guest Editorial: Preparing for the inevitable—an influenza pandemic

David Durrheim and Mark Ferson

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.

New South Wales Public Health Bulletin 17(8) 97 - 98 (2006) doi:10.1071/NB06023