Clinical Infectious Diseases
Volume 52 Issue 8 April 15, 2011
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/cid/current

Ruben O. Donis and Nancy J. Cox
Editorial Commentary: Prospecting the Influenza Hemagglutinin to Develop Universal Vaccines
Clin Infect Dis. (2011) 52(8): 1010-1012 doi:10.1093/cid/cir129

(See the article by Sui et al, on pages 1003–1009 .)

Influenza pandemics are among the most serious infectious threats to public health. The 1918–1919 influenza pandemic caused up to 500,000 deaths during a single influenza season in the United States, representing the most fatalities within such a short period in US public health history. The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic caused much less mortality but nevertheless exposed important limitations of global pandemic preparedness. [ 1, 2, 3]. First, the 2009 H1N1 virus was not detected by animal health surveillance systems for >10 years, exposing the inadequacy of current surveillance for viruses in animals that have pandemic potential for humans [ 4]. Second, the emergence of a pandemic virus with the same HA and NA subtypes as viruses that had been circulating in humans for decades (seasonal H1N1 virus) underscored the need to better understand immunity to emerging influenza viruses in the human population [ 4]. Finally, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic exposed our current inability to develop, manufacture, deliver, and administer billions of doses of vaccine directed against a newly emerging virus in the 4 months or less that would have been required to mitigate the impact of the spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus. [ 5]. Thus, several strategic changes in pandemic vaccine preparedness plans have been recommended [ 6]. The proposed changes are costly and often not affordable for low- and middle-income countries. Thus, sustainable long-term solutions will require the development of novel immunization strategies. The concept of a universal influenza vaccine that would elicit protection against a broad …