Pandemic Prep Gaps Remain, Says House HS Committee, HHS

By Anthony L. Kimery

As the virulent H5N1 and other strains of avian influenza—some showing disturbing signs of mutations toward making them human-to-human transmissible—spreads throughout Southeast Asia, the African sub-continent, the Middle East and other areas of the world, virologists and pandemic preparedness authorities are becoming increasingly uneasy over the possibility that a human pandemic could emerge before the world is better prepared. ....