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Police and Public Safety
PO Box 1510
Pembroke, NC 28372

Phone: 910.521.6235
Fax: 910.521.6193
Email: police@uncp.edu

Location: Business Services Building
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past influenza pandemics

A pandemic is an epidemic (an outbreak of an infectious disease) that spreads worldwide, or at least across a large region. There have been 10 recorded pandemics over the past 300 years, three of which occurred in the last century (1918, 1957 and 1968). The most deadly of the three was the pandemic of 1918 caused by a virus referred to as H1N1, which killed over 20 million people worldwide. Public Health authorities generally believe that pandemic will occur again although it is not known exactly when or which strain of a novel virus will rise to the occasion.

• 1918-19 "Spanish Flu" (H1N1) is estimated to have sickened 20-40% of the world’s population and over 20 million people died, 500,000 in the U.S., between September 1918 and April 1919.  It spread rapidly and many died within a few days of infection while others from secondary complications. The attack rate and mortality was highest among adults 20-50 years old, although the reasons for this are uncertain.
  • CDC article on the origins of the 1918-19 Spanish flu virus and its relevance to a future flu pandemic: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-0979.htm
• 1957-58 "Asian Flu" (H2N2): the virus was quickly identified due to advances in technology and a vaccine was produced. Infection rates were highest among school children, young adults and pregnant women. The elderly had the highest rates of death.  A “second wave” developed in 1958. There were about 70,000 deaths in the United States.
• 1968-69 "Hong Kong Flu" (H3N2) caused 33,800 total deaths in the U.S.  This virus was first detected in Hong Kong in early 1968 and spread to the United States later that year. Those over age 65 died at the highest rates. This virus returned in 1970 and 1972 and still circulates today.

If a virus would gain sustainable, efficient transmissibility, the public health strategy would focus on slowing the spread because it would be virtually impossible to stop. Slowing the spread of disease would allow for better allocation and more even use of limited resources by slowing the surge of cases.  Pandemic influenza would result in rapid, global spreading among humans, with no predictable pattern or seasonal preference as with seasonal influenza.  It could come in waves with a total duration of a year or more and potentially cause millions of deaths.

Updated: Thursday, July 14, 2011

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