With advancement in the field of genomic sequencing, investigation allows for cognition of the basis of host adaptation and the extent of the natural reservoir of influenza viruses. The key to predicting future viral pandemics is the required depth of historical, epidemiological, and biological knowledge surrounding the 1918 flu pandemic.
For a number of years, the prediction of a new influenza pandemic of large-scale proportions, namely the Avian flu, has become a global concern.
With extreme population mobility it is more important than ever for global pandemic preparedness to be emphasized. With cross-continental air travel, viral diffusion has greatly accelerated. Planes, trains and automobiles carry passengers from infected areas to non-infected areas in a matter of mere hours, turning the once unaffected area into a viral hotspot (Quan). Accelerated transmission, an uneducated public and changing vaccination rates combined spell global disaster. The first of these downfalls,
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It was common knowledge that vaccinations were the absolute first, and most efficacious step in preventing viral outbreaks. It was a logical series of phases “physicians recommended vaccines, schools required them, and parents vaccinated their children” (Glanz). However, over the past 10 years the media has become saturated with controversy over the efficacy of childhood immunizations. As the controversy began to somewhat subside, the recent Disneyland measles outbreak has once again inflamed the media and made vaccines the focus of a robust and antagonistic national debate. “The most recent controversy stems from evidence linking the outbreak to vacationing children who were intentionally unvaccinated, likely out of concerns that the risks of vaccination outweigh the