Website of the Department of Health
Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.
Page menu
You are here:
- Home >>
- Public health >>
- Influenza >>
- Pandemic flu
Who is at risk?
-
Last modified date:19 November 2007
We cannot know which groups will be affected by pandemic flu until the virus emerges. However, we know from previous pandemics that a future one is likely to have a major impact worldwide and from experience of previous pandemics we know that it is not necessarily the young and the elderly that will be affected.
How is the virus spread?
The virus is easily passed from person to person by breathing in air containing the virus produced when an infected person talks, coughs or sneezes. It can also spread through hand/ face contact after touching a person or surface contaminated with the virus.
Symptoms
Pandemic flu is likely to cause the same symptoms as ordinary flu but the symptoms may be more severe because nobody will have any immunity or protection against that particular virus. People infected with the current strand of the avian virus (H5N1) have shown everything from typical human influenza-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches) to pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases, and other life-threatening complications.
Access keys
