Science        
9 March 2012 vol 335, issue 6073, pages 1137-1268
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

Policy Forum
Public Health
Surveillance of Animal Influenza for Pandemic Preparedness
J. S. M. Peiris, L. L. M. Poon, and Y. Guan
Science 9 March 2012: 1173-1174.
Published online 16 February 2012 [DOI:10.1126/science.1219936]

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic was not as severe as initially feared. This has led to complacency in some quarters that future pandemics will be of comparable impact and as readily dealt with. However, by September 2009, just 5 months after the recognition of the novel pandemic H1N1 virus, almost 50% of children in Hong Kong were already infected (1), which reflects the speed of spread of the virus to and within international travel hubs. In most parts of the world, vaccines were not available in time to substantially affect the first wave of disease. A more virulent virus, such as one comparable to the 1918 H1N1 virus or the H5N1 “bird flu,” spreading with such speed would be a global catastrophe.