I VACCINI ANTINFLUENZALI NELLA STORIA DELLA MEDICINA TRA PASSATO E PRESENTE

Influenza is a highly infectious airborne disease that affected significant percentage of the world population; local annual epidemics and pandemics appeared from the earliest ages, causing tens of millions of deaths since ancient times. In 412 BC Hippocrates first described an influenza-like illness syndrome called “fever of Corinth”, but the name “influenza” originated in 15th century in Italy. The first relevant documents about influenza-like illness syndrome was recorded in 1510 and the first pandemic, or worldwide epidemic, that clearly fits the description of influenza appeared in 1580. At the end of the XIX century, the etiology of this disease had not been yet well clarified: it was believed that the disease was caused by a bacillus, Haemophilus influenzae, so named by Pfeiffer during the influenza epidemic of 1889-1892 and in the same period the French Charles Nicolle and Charles Lébally showed the agent filterability flu pathogen. Many are certainly the most important dates of this historic route and we will try with our work to retrace the major events leading research and studies on influenza virus to the current situation