Influenza in 2009
New Solutions, Same Old Problems
- Julie Louise Gerberding, MD, MPH
- Author Affiliation: Former director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- CROSS INFECTION
- DISEASE OUTBREAKS
- HOSPITALIZATION
- IMMUNIZATION
- IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMS
- INFLUENZA A VIRUS, H1N1 SUBTYPE
- INFLUENZA, HUMAN
- PUBLIC HEALTH
In 1941, the Commission on Influenza of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB) established a comprehensive national research plan to address the most important unanswered scientific questions about influenza.1 The commission prioritized assessment of vaccine and immune serum prophylaxis efficacy but also defined a much broader scope of collaborative work across the academic, public health, and military sectors. The plan included evaluation of isolation and quarantine practices, environmental controls, and the effectiveness of masks to control infection; field studies to define the clinical, microbiologic, pathologic, and epidemiologic correlates of infection and disease for specific virus subtypes; and evaluation of treatment regimens, including prophylaxis for bacterial superinfections.
As clinicians and public health practitioners contend with the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus pandemic, the health care community should be grateful to the commission for accurately anticipating the requirements for effective control and for pioneering the investigations that ultimately led to the vaccines …
