In the event of a severe pandemic, the Internet might not be able to accommodate increased traffic caused by the increased number of people working from home, the Government Accountability Office said Monday in a report issued.

The report, entitled Influenza Pandemic: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet, comes just days after President Obama declared a national emergency because of the spreading H1N1 flu and focuses on the financial services industry, though the impact could be broader to include a wide number of industries.

"Increased demand during a severe pandemic could exceed the capacities of Internet providers' access networks for residential users and interfere with teleworkers in the securities market and other sectors," the GAO study said, citing studies by the Department of Homeland Security, Internet service providers and its own analysis.

GAO, Congress' investigative arm, said ISPs have limited ability to prioritize traffic or take other actions that could assist critical teleworkers. The Congressional auditors said some actions, such as reducing customers' transmission speeds or blocking popular Web sites, could negatively impact e-commerce and require government authorization.