Highly pathogenic pandemic influenza viruses pose a real if poorly defined risk to public health and economies. In a study of potential mortality, Murray et al. estimated that 62 million excess deaths would have occurred globally had there been a pandemic event in 2004 with an excess mortality proportional to that observed in the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic. ¹ The United Nations System Influenza Coordination has outlined the impact of pandemic influenza not just on mortality, but also on health-care systems, animal health, agriculture, education, transport, tourism and the financial sector. ² In short, a pandemic event threatens all aspects of the economic and social fabric.