Each winter season brings the horrid infectious disease, influenza also commonly known as “the flu.” Just in the past week, over 250 cases of positive specimens were gathered with it being the highest week in the year of 2017. Influenza has already been in full force this winter, with many people around Australia falling ill. Everyone in their lifetime suffers from the nasty flu as sometime in their life, but for some, it’s a critical and complicated disease. In the selected years of 2006, 2010 and 2015, influenza was one of the leading causes of death. Influenza and pneumonia are at rank 12, with 2015 having at least 3,402 deaths, more than breast cancer. “There has been a total of 12, 360 laboratories confirmed notifications of influenza …show more content…
Antigenic drift is the sudden significant change or a new subtype of the disease, which is caused by point mutations within the cell and could result in a pandemic. These small changes within the cells continually happen over time as the virus replicated. These genetic changes usually produce viruses that are pretty closely related, with them having the same antigenic properties and immune system response. Antigenic shift is like the antigenic drift, but is caused by the exchange of gene segments. When shift happens, most people have little or no protection against the new virus. While influenza viruses are changing by antigenic drift all the time, the antigenic shift occurs only occasionally. Type A viruses undergo both kinds of changes; influenza type B viruses change only by the more gradual process of antigenic drift. Shift and drift can be evident in the statistics Australia faced in 1907 to 2000. Australia faced an influenza pandemic of 1918 to 1919, which brought more deaths than World War One. “It has been recorded that the numbers are between 20 and 40 million people, with it being the most devastating epidemic recorded in world history” (Appendix, statistic 2). “Pneumonia and influenza were the major contributors in 1907 but by 2000 were clearly outranked by COPD, whose rates increased markedly over the 30 years after 1950.” Since then, influenza numbers have fallen rapidly by an average of 99% since 1907” (Appendix, statistic 2). Therefore, influenza has changed over the decades, with sift and drift being the source of that
Seasonal influenza is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the industrialized world. The United States alone averages more than 23,000 influenza-associated deaths annually (Cortes-Penfield, 2014). Everyone is given the option to receive the flu vaccination each year. The vaccine is offered in health care facilities, clinics, and pharmacies around
One can claim that influenza is an infection that has victimized people from just about every generation that we have known. The term Influenza comes from the Latin word "influentia", first used by the Italians in the 1600's. It is a highly contagious infection particulary of the respiratory tract.In addition to us humans, influenza can occur in pigs, horses, and several other mammals as well as in certain wild and birds. It can also jump from specie to specie as observed in late 1997 when influenza from chickens was having its effects on people in Hong Kong. Because influenza is highly contagious and spreads easily, it has appeared in our history many a times as epidemics. Influenza is caused by an
The Great Influenza is a book not many enjoy. However, Dr. Petri enjoys this book for reasons that are lost to many. The book starts off on part one chapter 1 the Warriors. it starts off with imagery of September 12, 1876 talking about it crowd in an auditorium in Baltimore’s Academy of music. this was too launch John Hopkins University where they say they would change all of American education and in this first page you meet Thomas H. Huxley an English scientist who is the keynote speaker of this event. then give me George Armstrong Custer who “led the seventh Cavalry to with the stretching at the hands of him video savages resisting encroachment of the white man.” customer had spoke on the front page of the Washington star. then the book starts going deeper into detail
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2013) national healthcare disparities report for 2010, influenza and pneumonia are ranked within the top ten major causes of death in the United States. The influenza viruses that will be discussed throughout this case study include the human influenza viruses: A and B. These viruses are responsible for seasonal epidemics during the fall and winter around the globe in temperate environments. Historically influenza outbreaks have had a seasonal distribution and characteristic time course although according to the CDC (2017) factors influencing the extent and severity of an outbreak are less clear. Generally, there are two or three different influenza strains typically circulating concurrently in any given
Review of The Great Influenza By John M.Barry Published by Penguin Group Published date: 2005 Review by Zijie Wang SS-292 Epidemic disease Pratt Institute Prof. John Frangos Zijie Wang Epidemic Disease Pro.
Influenza is not a deadly virus and does have a vaccination. One of the three types of influenza, type C, “type C infections cause a mild respiratory illness and are not thought to cause epidemics” (Types of Influenza Viruses). The other two types of influenza viruses type“ A and B viruses cause seasonal epidemics” and happen mostly when winter hits (Types of Influenza
This new influenza baffled researchers and doctors everywhere. Up to this point, all viral diseases has spread prominently throughout heavily populated areas and into the lungs of the very young, very old, or sickly. On the contrary, the Influenza of 1918 swept through the Midwest and preyed on the
Every year, millions of people start talking about the influenza virus and getting their vaccines as the flu season approaches, which starts around the October-November period and reaches its peak between December and March. Therefore, public health officials around the world- and in the U.S in particular- are constantly challenged by properly preparing for the annual influenza dilemma, given that this viruses, and other respiratory viruses, are a serious health threat to the U.S population and the world as a whole. Furthermore, what makes the influenza virus even more challenging to control is that it can mutate rapidly and reassort to form new strains, having the ability to reside in multiple animal hosts. In fact, many scientists and researchers have been doing in-depth intensive research so as to understand the mechanism behind this unique characteristic of the virus, try to find new ways to control it, and explore different areas of protection and vaccination.
Influenza, an innocent little virus that annually comes and goes, has always been a part of people’s lives. Knowing this, one would not believe that it has caused not one, not two, but three pandemics and is on its way to causing a fourth! The Spanish flu of 1918, the Asian flu of 1957, and the Hong Kong
The influenza virus is “an acute respiratory tract illness, with outbreaks occuring annually that are responsible for large numbers of hospitalization and death worldwide” (Dool et al. 314-319). The influenza virus has a few common symptoms that
Avian influenza is a disease that has been wreaking havoc on human populations since the 16th century. With the recent outbreak in 1997 of a new H5N1 avian flu subtype, the world has begun preparing for a pandemic by looking upon its past affects. In the 20th Century, the world witnessed three pandemics in the years of 1918, 1957, and 1968. In 1918 no vaccine, antibiotic, or clear recognition of the disease was known. Killing over 40 million in less than a year, the H1N1 strain ingrained a deep and lasting fear of the virus throughout the world. Though 1957 and 1968 brought on milder pandemics, they still killed an estimated 3 million people and presented a new
Influenza is well-defined as a minor, but commonly epidemic disease that occurred in several of ways, also caused by numerous of rapidly mutating viral strains. It characterized by the respiratory symptoms and general prostration. The Spanish flu was not a normal epidemic, it was a dangerous pandemic. Epidemics affect individuals at the same time in areas where the disease does not normally spread. A pandemic is an epidemic on a national, international, or global scale. The Spanish flu was different from a usual flu in one big great terrifying way, which had a remarkably high death rate between healthy individuals around the age fifteen to thirty four. There has been such a high death rate in this type if age group in an epidemic prior to or since the Spanish flu of 1918.
The last few days of summer are upon us, the leaves are beginning to change and it is once again fall in East Tennessee. While many are beginning to enjoy a relaxing break before the stresses of winter and the holidays, healthcare providers are bracing for the rush. The rush I speak of is that of doctor’s offices which are over run with those complaining of fevers, aches, and chills. Influenza season begins as early as August and can run as long as in to late March. Those affected by the virus can range from infants to the elderly, but most complications occur in those over 65, including death. According to the World Health Organization, the number of elderly persons is expected to increase from 600 million currently to over 2 billion worldwide by 2050. (WHO, 2015) Due to the rapid increase of this age group in the upcoming years, the need to prevent and establish treatment for illnesses that have the potential to be fatal in this population is a top priority. Greater risks of mortality in those over 65 who contract influenza can be attributed to several factors including: the elderly’s decline in immunity response, the inability of the elderly’s body to fully recover from infection, and finally, the long term complications of influenza among those who are already compromised.
Most people perceive “the flu” to be a common (not a big deal) illness, but they overlook the 20,000 deaths and over 100,000 hospitalizations nationwide.
Background & Audience Relevance: Influenza is an infection that can affect anyone around the world. Am quite sure almost everyone, if not all of us, have been infected with influenza at some point in our lives.