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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2006;296:2428.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Mindful of the ongoing threat of a potentially deadly avian influenza outbreak, researchers are striving to find ways to protect individuals before a pandemic occurs. While such a feat has proven difficult for a variety of reasons, some scientists are encouraged by a recent study demonstrating that mice immunized with a vaccine against the 1918 influenza virus—the pathogen that killed 50 million or more individuals worldwide—were protected against a lethal challenge with a reconstructed version of the virus (Kong WP et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. doi:10.1073/pnas.0607564103 [published online October 16, 2006]).

The study is relevant to concerns about a future H5N1 pandemic for several reasons. First, a number of research studies suggest that the 1918 virus, like the current H5N1 avian flu strain, could have arisen directly from an avian influenza virus. Second, the 1918 virus' rapid infectivity and widespread virulence led . . . [Full Text of this Article]