WHO says H1N1 pandemic has run its course

The swine flu virus will be with us indefinitely, but the World Health Organization says that the H1N1 pandemic it triggered is over. For the vaccine industry, the pandemic presented an opportunity to do its best research work, turning out a new vaccine in record time, while highlighting how the world's manufacturing system still relies on old technology that is far too slow to guard against a wildfire breakout. Fortunately, the swine flu turned into a dry run of sorts. Far more mild than originally feared, it caused relatively few deaths. The next time around the virus may not be so unthreatening. In the meantime, a lineup of biotech companies has been working feverishly to develop new vaccines that can be made much faster. Story