AbstractInfluenza is one of the great plagues which is not yet under control. The reason for this is the immense variability of the infecting agent, the influenza A viruses. These viruses behave like a chameleon: they adapt very rapidly to varying environments. New strains are “synthesized,” which can escape the immune response of the host, cross species barriers, and become highly pathogenic. We are beginning to understand the molecular background of this extraordinarily high variability. The genome of influenza A viruses consists of eight single‐stranded RNA segments, each of which constitutes a gene. The total base sequence of the eight RNA segments of several strains is known. If a suitable organism becomes doubly infected with two different influenza A strains, each of the RNA segments behaves like a chromosome. This means that by reassortment of the 16 RNA segments, 28−2 = 254 new combinations (= reassortants) are theoretically possible, each having different properties. Furthermore, mutations in the various RNA segments are relatively easily tolerated. Another great problem resides in the enormous reservoir of different influenza A viruses in the animal kingdom, especially in feral waterbirds. In these birds the avian influenza A viruses normally cause at most mild symptoms, and therefore these viruses are distributed over and between continents. Bearing this in mind it appears to be necessary to develop new ideas as to how to overcome this great