Influenza, which has hit the news headlines and stormed the media recently, has been the main topic of discussion at WHO meetings and has caused a great deal of concern to doctors. Extensive laboratory studies have been carried out in 126 NICs all over the world. This severe infectious disease, caused by a virus from the Orthomyxoviridae family, has plagued human populations for centuries. Illnesses occur as seasonal epidemics or, less frequently, as pandemics. Seasonal influenza causes illnesses in 5-25% of the world population, as well as numerous complications. The number of deaths has reached 1 million per year in the whole world, irrespective of the age of patients. Although there are methods of effective virological diagnosis in Poland, which are beneficial not only for patients, but for the economy, they are not used often in medical practice, especially in paediatrics. Currently, new generation anti-influenza drugs - neuraminidase inhibitors - are available for the treatment of children from the age of one. The cheapest and most effective method of fighting influenza is prophylaxis, i.e. vaccination. In Poland only 5.1% of the population was vaccinated against influenza in the epidemic season 2007/2008. Moreover, the percentage of children vaccinated against flu over many years is dramatically low. National policy of vaccination against influenza must decidedly change, especially as pandemic is imminent. At present it is difficult to predict which subtype of the influenza A virus will cause it because there are many subtypes of this virus. The future of our population, particularly children, is at stake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]