How can vaccines be efficiently administered to large populations within days? doctors' offices, nurse-run clinics, and emergency rooms in Middleberg were filled with patients with coughs who were convinced they had a deadly disease. Pharmacists were bombarded with questions about what they could do to prevent the disease and what they could do if they had early signs. Fortunately, only a few cases of the new strain appeared near the end of the influenza season and calm soon returned. The new strain did pose a danger for the coming season but not an immediate threat. It was ironic that the new strain of influenza A should appear just as Middleburg and the United States were completing the most successful efforts yet to prevent, control, and limit the impact of seasonal influenza, which in the past had often taken 25,000-50,000 lives a year during flu season.