The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed 40 million people worldwide and more than half a million died in the United States. Could it happen again?

The U-M Bioterrorism Preparedness Initiative’s School of Public Health-based Michigan Center for Public Health Preparedness and the Michigan Department of Community Health will host the symposium “Pandemic Influenza: Could History Repeat Itself?” 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater in the Michigan League.

The symposium will examine the recent emergence of avian influenza; provide an overview of international and domestic monitoring efforts; look at influenza immunization development and delivery; and assess the U.S.’s current state of preparedness to meet the challenge of the next flu pandemic.

Presentations include:

• “People Protected, Public Health Prepared” by Dr. Ed Thompson, deputy director for public health practice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• “Fundamentals of Influenza” by Dr. Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology, School of Public Health, and founding director of the Bioterrorism Preparedness Initiative

• “Avian Influenza: Pandemic Potential” by J. Malik Peiris, professor of microbiology, University of Hong Kong, and chief of virology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

• “Surveillance and Response” by Dr. Keiji Fukuda, senior medical epidemiologist, Epidemiology and Surveillance Section, Influenza Branch, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC

• “When Germs Travel” by Dr. Howard Markel, George E. Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine, professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases, and director, U-M Center for the History of Medicine

• “Vaccine Development and Use” by Linda Lambert, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

• “Influenza Planning: Local, State, and Federal Interactions” by Dr. Marcelle Layton, Bureau of Communicable Diseases, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

• “Early in the Pandemic: Infection Control and Use of Anti-Virals” by Dr. Scott Harper, medical officer, Influenza Branch, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC

The registration deadline is Jan. 14. To register or for more information, visit http://www3.sph.umich.edu/acphp/course.cfm?courseID=14 or send an e-mail to prepared@umich.edu.