[Correspondence] Influenza: the role of the Middle East and north Africa?

100 years have passed since the first well documented influenza pandemic of the 20th century. Today, the majority of the influenza virus burden is known to be caused by two main types of influenza virus —type A and type B. Human influenza A viruses generally stem from birds and swine, whereas influenza B viruses do not have a known animal reservoir, and simply circulate among human beings. Although pandemics occur unexpectedly, these outbreaks are theorised to emerge after a lengthy reassortment process, and not from the direct introduction of an avian virus into human beings.

Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - April 19, 2018 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Hossein Bannazadeh Baghi, Mohammad Hossein Soroush Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research