Jornal de Doenças Infecciosas e Medicina Preventiva
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Does Virus Interference Account for the Multiple Epidemic Waves that are Characteristic of the 1918 Spanish Influenza and other Influenza Pandemics?

Gabriel Ånestad, Kirsti Vainio and Olav Hungnes

In 2009 several European countries, including Norway, experienced a delay in the spread of the new pandemic influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 virus after its initial emergence in spring and summer. In the present communication it is discussed whether this delay was shaped by virus interference with other respiratory viruses, in particular rhinoviruses, and thereby the forming of epidemic waves. Albeit a mere hypothesis at the moment virus interference may give a reasonable explanation to why outbreaks with the 1918 Spanish influenza and other influenza pandemics, in contrast to seasonal influenza, tend to occur in several subsequent epidemic waves. According to the evolution theories it is unlikely that epidemic viruses should circulate independent of each other.