What is an influenza pandemic?

A pandemic is a global outbreak. An influenza pandemic occurs when there is an outbreak of a new strain of influenza that affects large parts of the world.

In the last century, the world has witnessed three influenza pandemics. The most shocking pandemic was ‘Spanish flu' which affected large parts of the world population and is thought to have killed at least 40 million people in 1918-1919. The two other influenza pandemics were the 1957 ‘Asian influenza' and the 1968 ‘Hong Kong influenza', which caused significant morbidity and mortality globally.

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