Flu

Seasonal flu

Most people know the symptoms all too well—the fever, aching muscles, runny nose, sore throat, headache, and feeling of extreme tiredness. These are clear signs of seasonal influenza, a condition that lasts up to two weeks and hits the northern hemisphere every winter.

We often think we have the flu when we suffer from nothing more than the common cold that lasts no more than two or three days. Seasonal flu is a much more serious condition than the common cold—in fact, it can kill people who are susceptible or weakened by other illnesses or old age.

To fight this, vaccine manufacturers create a new flu vaccine every year. Each year's vaccine helps to protect against the most likely strains of seasonal flu. If you need a flu shot, you should see your doctor about a month before the annual flu season starts.

Bird flu

Bird flu—or avian flu—is a flu that affects birds. The strain making headlines is called H5N1, and was first discovered in Hong Kong in 1997.

The main concern is that migrating birds will spread this form of flu to the rest of the world and create conditions that make it easy for the virus to pass to humans.

Since the discovery of avian flu, birds with this flu have been found in at least half of the European Union's countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and the UK. Researchers now think that up to 200 million birds could be infected with this deadly strain of the virus.

By mid-October 2006, people with cases of bird flu were reported in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam—256 people had caught bird flu and 151 had died. The fact that bird flu has already transferred to humans is of great concern to scientists because it is a new strain of flu against which we have no immunity.

The good news

So far it seems that bird flu does not easily pass to humans—and there is no evidence that bird flu can be caught from eating well-cooked bird meat or eggs; the people who are mainly at risk work in the poultry industry.

If the H5N1 bird flu virus changes to a form that can be passed from one person to another—for example, through coughing and sneezing—up to 25% of the world's population could be affected. The US government has estimated that a flu pandemic could kill up to two million Americans.

Did you know?

A previous pandemic of bird flu in 1918 killed 40 million people worldwide.

What you can do

There are several things that you can do to reduce the risk of catching seasonal (and other forms of) flu:

• Ask your doctor about a flu vaccine if you are at risk: the elderly, asthmatics, and infants are most at risk
• Stay healthy—a good diet, plenty of exercise, and a healthy lifestyle will help the body to avoid and fight infection
• Avoid crowds during the flu season—if you cannot, wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your eyes and nose as this will reduce the chances of a flu virus infecting you
• If you travel to areas infected by H5N1 bird flu, avoid live animal markets, poultry farms, and any free-ranging or caged poultry

If a bird flu pandemic breaks out, treatment may include vaccination; the World Health Organization would alert governments on how to tackle the outbreak. Many governments are planning to stockpile specific vaccines once the strain of flu that will cause a pandemic has been identified.

To meet this demand, we have increased production of Relenza, a medicine approved for treatment and prevention of seasonal flu in many countries, through our own manufacturing facilities and through partnerships with other companies. We've also been investing in the development of two vaccines for the H5N1 strain of flu.

GSK's two H5N1 flu vaccines went into clinical trials in Germany in March 2006. They will help the company to develop a vaccine against a pandemic-causing flu strain more quickly. We released preliminary results from these clinical trials in July 2006, and a pandemic flu vaccine could be in production by the end of the year.