Influenza Vaccine: Federal Investments in Alternative Technologies and Challenges to Development and Licensure
Abstract
Influenza, in both its seasonal and pandemic forms, is an ongoing public health concern. Seasonal influenza may begin as early as August and generally diminishes by April in the northern hemisphere. It has been associated with 3,000 to nearly 50,000 deaths each year in the United States in recent decades, according to the Department of Health and Human Services's (HHS) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Pandemic influenza, which periodically causes a global outbreak of serious illness with the potential for many more deaths than seasonal influenza, has occurred four times in the past 100 years. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, detection of the H5N1 avian influenza (also known as "bird flu") virus in animals raised concerns among experts that it or another influenza virus might mutate into a strain that could lead to a human influenza pandemic. The recent 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic reinforced the need to be prepared for future influenza pandemics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA545790
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office