The Great Game

I'm not kidding.

Jax

Canadian authorities may have helped avert a possible global flu pandemic by discovering that laboratories around the world had been sent mislabeled samples of an influenza virus judged to be a serious candidate to spark the next pandemic.

More than 3,800 laboratories in 18 countries, including Canada, have been asked to destroy the samples of H2N2, the flu strain that caused the 1957 Asian flu pandemic. The virus hasn't circulated in humans since 1968 and people under the age of 37 would have no immunity to it.

A laboratory accident with the mislabeled virus could have started a flu pandemic, officials admit.

“There was some potential for considerable trouble,” said Dr. Klaus Stohr, head of the World Health Organization's global pandemic program. WHO is involved in the worldwide recall of the samples.

"Fortunately, it was found fast by the Canadians after there was initial suspicion.”

Officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed 20 laboratories in the country were given the mislabeled virus. All have destroyed the samples, the agency said Tuesday. (Link)

PS We are overdue for a flu pandemic:

An outbreak of the flu that quickly spreads around the world is known as a pandemic. Pandemic influenza occurs when a new, highly infectious and dangerous strain of the influenza virus appears.

Unlike the common flu outbreaks we see every winter, flu pandemics occur every few decades. The last big flu pandemic happened in 1918, killing millions of people worldwide. Since then, smaller pandemics have happened in 1957 and 1968.

International disease experts are saying that the world is overdue for the next pandemic. Nobody knows exactly when the next pandemic will happen, but scientists from the World Health Organization are watching for it right now. When the next pandemic happens, it will likely begin in Asia, but with today's growing volume of international travel, the virus can spread rapidly throughout the world. (Link)