Meeting the Challenge of Influenza Pandemic Preparedness in Developing Countries

摘要

Developing countries face unique diffi culties preparing for an in. uenza pandemic. Our current top-down approach will not provide these countries with adequate supplies of vaccines and antiviral agents. Consequently, they will have to use a bottom-up approach based on inexpensive generic agents that either modify the host response to in. uenza virus or act as antiviral agents. Several of these agents have shown promise, and many are currently produced in developing countries. Investigators must primarily identify agents for managing infection in populations and not simply seek explanations for how they work. They must determine in which countries these agents are produced and defi ne patterns of distribution and costs. Because prepandemic re-search cannot establish whether these agents will be effec-tive in a pandemic, randomized controlled trials must begin immediately after a new pandemic virus has emerged. With-out this research, industrialized and developing countries could face an unprecedented health crisis