n. an *epidemic so widely spread that vast numbers of people in different countries are affected. For example, a variant of the influenza A virus, H1N1, emerged in North America in 2009 and quickly spread to affect over 200 countries around the globe by August 2010. There was a low level of immunity among the human population, flu vaccines were ineffective, and up to 200,000 people are thought to have died.... pandemic
a disease of domesticated pigs, first seen in humans in early 2009, caused by H1N1, a strain of *influenza A virus. Very contagious, the World Health Organization has now declared it to be a pandemic strain in humans. Swine influenza is currently believed not to be as virulent as *avian influenza and it seems to be less severe than the virulent 1918 pandemic, with which it shares antigenic features.... swine influenza
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