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Volume 351:2363-2365 December 2, 2004 Number 23 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The largest, most devastating outbreak of an infectious disease in modern history occurred in 1918, when a highly virulent influenza A (H1N1) virus spread throughout the world and killed between 20 million and 40 million people. Additional epidemics occurred in 1957 (H2N2) and 1968 (H3N2), both originating in Asia and each killing approximately 1 million people. These haunting memories have led to widespread concern about the ongoing outbreak of avian H5N1 influenza in Asia.

Certain parallels between the "Spanish flu" of 1918 and H5N1 justify this concern. Like the 1918 virus, H5N1 influenza has unusually high virulence and can capitalize . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (T.T.H.) and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hospital for Tropical Diseases (M.J., J.F.), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

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