Overview: Kilbourne (1973) described the student of influenza as "continually looking back over his shoulder and asking ‘what happened?‘, in the hope that understanding of past events will alert him to the catastrophies ofthe future". Experience suggests the futility of such a hope, since the most predictable feature of influenza is its unpredictability. Nonetheless, the stubborn viabil ity of this hope is strongly affirmed by the many attempts, described and discussed in this volume, to develop a useful and practical representation of influenza virus behavior. I hasten to add, however, that t
|