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Since the 2015-2016 flu season, one more B-strain lineage virus has been added, and the vaccine became quadrivalent. Influenza viruses were first identified in 1933 when a group of scientists, Wilson Smith, P.P. Laidlaw, and C.H. Andrewes, discovered that there was no bacteria infection from the throat samples of patients infected by influenza.
The 1889–1890 pandemic, often referred to as the Asiatic flu [57] or Russian flu, killed about 1 million people [58] [59] out of a world population of about 1.5 billion. It was long believed to be caused by an influenza A subtype (most often H2N2), but recent analysis largely brought on by the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic ...
The following is a list of WHO recommended strains for the Northern Hemisphere influenza season. Starting in the 2012–2013 season, the recommendation shifted to include the composition of a quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIV) that contains both influenza B lineages, alongside a trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) containing one influenza B lineage.
Influenza vaccines, colloquially known as flu shots [28] or the flu jab, [29] are vaccines that protect against infection by influenza viruses. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] New versions of the vaccines are developed twice a year, as the influenza virus rapidly changes. [ 30 ]
The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Spanish flu pandemic and the second being the 1977 Russian flu).
A spokesman for the laboratories described the new virus as "the worst flu we have had" and called an epidemic that year "almost certain". [156] In light of the situation, the Australian Pensioners Federation in early January wrote to Minister for Health Jim Forbes "demanding" that the vaccine be given free of charge to pensioners. [157]
In the 21st century, a strain of H1N1 flu (since titled "H1N1pdm09") was antigenically very different from previous H1N1 strains, leading to a pandemic in 2009. Because of its close resemblance to some strains circulating in pigs, this became known as "swine flu". [45] Influenza A virus continues to circulate and evolve in birds and pigs.
It was caused by an H1N1 flu strain which highly resembled a virus strain circulating worldwide from 1946 to 1957. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Genetic analysis and several unusual characteristics of the 1977 Russian flu have prompted many researchers to say that the virus was released to the public through a laboratory accident, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 7 ...