by Linda Sunkle-Pierucki

Created on: May 02, 2009

Throughout history, stories of Cholera, Malaria, the Plague smallpox, diphtheria show pandemic disease has changed our world. Pandemics have changed the course of nations, begun and ended wars and very often changed the religious majorities of entire populations.

Because of common improvements in public health, plumbing and hygiene, and the increased knowledge of disease pathogens, most pandemics that occurred in the past likely cannot occur now. About the only existing disease that now has the ability to quickly infect large enough numbers of people to cause pandemic conditions is influenza. The nature of influenza viruses is that they mutate-constantly. Because the human organism develops immunity to a particular virus once the immune system has overcome it, the wily influenza virus mutates enough to secure its own continued existence by coming back in a slightly different form.

One of the main reasons influenza is so successful is that it has developed the ability to infect a variety of host animals and can recombine with viruses from other animals and humans at a later date to form still another, new form of disease. Because of this ability to fast-mutate, vaccines never appear to be able to get that far ahead of the next epidemic. That's why every year, millions of people make sure to get their flu shot-and get the flu anyway. And, as most of us are aware, the average case of the flu appears to have far more to do with the individual's immune system that the virus itself.

Although influenza viruses mutate every year, historically there is a major, unexperienced mutation about every forty years with the potential to infect huge numbers of people quickly as they don't have any residual immunity to the recombined viruses. This is the fear with the current H1N1 virus outbreak that began in Mexico. What began as a localized epidemic threatens to become pandemic only because of the unusual nature of this year's recombination of viruses and the increased global mobility of the population. Although there have been a number of deaths associated with the current flu in Mexico, many of the victims-as is common in most influenza deaths-may have had other serious health challenges. When, each year, we are force-fed horror stories of thousands of flu deaths as an encouragement to get vaccinated, we are never told that most of these deaths occurred in those with life-threatening or near-terminal health conditions and that flu was simply the final assault on an already failing

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