Senior author, Jacco Boon, PhD, ID’ing features of flu virus genome may help target surveillance for pandemic flu

The recent influenza outbreak – the worst across the United States in nearly a decade – is worrisome but still far less dire than a pandemic flu, which could kill millions. Such pandemics are exceedingly difficult to predict, but new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis offers details about flu viruses that could help improve surveillance to detect a potential pandemic.