Ycocedron

1. Influenza

Despite the many available seasonal flu vaccines, influenza remains one of the most dangerous public health challenges. While already the regular seasonal influenza epidemics are usually of considerable impact for the public health system, the irregularly occurring influenza pandemics, which can cause high levels of mortality remain a very serious threat. The “Spanish flu” in 1918 killed about 50 to 100 million people and in each of the last three centuries there has been about three influenza pandemics, and the most recent one (even though very mild in its appearance) occurred in 2009. One of the reasons for the danger of a potential influenza pandemic is the very high transmission rate of the influenza virus, leading to the rapid spread of the disease. Hence pandemic preparedness and readiness for influenza outbreaks need to be as rapid as humanly possible. (publications)

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2. COVID-19

COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) is a rapidly ​spreading viral disease caused by the virus SARS CoV-2. The outbreak occurred in Mainland China late in 2019 and has ever since affected most countries of the world. People develop flu-like symptoms and if disease progression is severe they may die from pneumonia or multi-organ failure. As of February 20, 2020 the estimated case fatality rate (CFR) was 2.8%. Since the transmission rate (currently estimated at 2 – 3) is even much higher than for influenza it will be very hard to contain the virus and unfortunately a pandemic is a quite likely scenario. More than 200 countries have already been affected and hence a vaccine is desperately needed. ​(publications)