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This table presents published reports, up to 2009, of the isolation of “new or novel” type A influenza viruses from persons with an influenza-like-illness (ILI).

After the influenza pandemics in 1918, 1947, 1957, and 1968, there has not been any major influenza pandemic.

When a swine H1N1 influenza virus was detected in a small outbreak among army recruits at Fort Dix in 1976, this raised major concerns, that a severe influenza pandemic similar to the 1918 H1N1 “Spanish flu”, might emerge.  A massive swine flu vaccine program was developed but no influenza pandemic emerged.

During the 1980s and 1990s, several “new” type A influenza viruses were isolated, primarily from persons with ILI and who had close contact with sick poultry or animals, but no spread to surrounding populations occurred. The 1997 “Chicken-flu” scare in Hong Kong brought Dr. Margaret Chan to public health prominence when she issued a public health order to cull (kill) all chicken flocks in Hong Kong in an effort to avert the start of a chicken-flu pandemic.

The increasing detection of “new” type A influenza viruses over the past couple of decades may not represent a real increase in “new” influenza viruses, but may simply be the result of a massive increase of laboratory surveillance for new influenza viruses!