Variant influenza: connecting the missing dots

ABSTRACT

Background

In June 2009, the World Health Organization declared a new pandemic, the 2009 swine influenza pandemic (swine flu). The symptoms of the swine flu pandemic causing strain were comparable to most of the symptoms noted by seasonal influenza.

Area covered

Zoonotic viruses that caused the swine flu pandemic and its preventive measures.

Expert opinion

As per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the clinical manifestations in humans produced by the 2009 H1N1 ‘swine flu’ virus were equivalent to the manifestations caused by related flu strains. The H1N1 vaccination was the most successful prophylactic measure since it prevented the virus from spreading and reduced the intensity and consequences of the pandemic. Despite the availability of therapeutics, the ongoing evolution and appearance of new strains have made it difficult to develop effective vaccines and therapies. Currently, the CDC recommends yearly flu immunization for those aged 6 months and above. The lessons learned from the A/2009/H1N1 pandemic in 2009 indicated that readiness of mankind toward new illnesses caused by mutant viral subtypes that leap from animals to people must be maintained.

KEYWORDS:

• Swine flu
• swine flu viruses
• H1N1
• 2009 pandemic
• influenza
• vaccine
• prevention
• Spanish flu

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or material discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or mending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

V.P. Chavda contributed to the conceptualization, design, writing, and editing of the article. All authors wrote the first draft, while V.P. Chavda and V. Apostolopoulos critically revised the same. All the authors read, reviewed, and approved the final paper and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Figure 1 and 5 is created with Biorender.Com

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.