Pandemic / Avian Flu Information and Planning

History of Pandemic Influenza

There have been three influenza pandemics in the past century:

  • The Spanish flu (H1N1) in 1918-19 affected 20 to 40 percent of the world population, with 50 million deaths worldwide, 500,000 of those in the United States.
  • The Asian flu (H2N2) in 1957-58 killed 70,000 in the United States and was contained primarily because of early identification and vaccine production and distribution.
  • The Hong Kong Flu (H3N2) in 1968-69 caused only 34,000 deaths in the United States, primarily among the elderly.

The average death rate for seasonal flu in the United States each year is about 36,000. Public health officials have been particularly concerned about the recent strain of avian (bird) flu because it shares many characteristics with the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic that had significant mortality both in the United States and globally.