The Cause Of Infectious Disease In The Mayo Clinic

To get the flu vaccine or not to get the flu vaccine? This is a huge controversial question millions of Americans today ask themselves every year. There are many myths that come along with the topic of the flu vaccine that lead to people questioning the effectiveness of the medication. Safety for our families and loved ones is what we aim to achieve, but what are the pros and cons of this vaccine? What are the consequences and what are myths, but most importantly: what are the reasons we should get it in the first place? In this paper you will learn the many reasons for the flu vaccination and how it affects different populations beginning with children all the way to the elderly population. First of all, what is the flu

First, in 1796, a doctor named Edward Jenner performed the very first vaccination. “Taking pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Six weeks later Jenner variolated two sites on Phipps ' arm with smallpox, yet the boy was unaffected by this as well as subsequent exposures” (Minna & Markel, 2005)& (Cave, 2008). The first vaccination allowed people to recognize that it was beneficial for their health. It provided the base for the rest of the variations of vaccinations to come. Vaccinations began with the notion that it is rooted in the science of immunology. Throughout history, there have been many variations of this first vaccine for things such as small pox, mumps, malaria and guinea worm. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d.)

Why do families refuse to receive the yearly flu shot when it is easy to access and keeps them healthy? Influenza, or the flu, is a critical illness that can lead up to hospitality or even death depending on the person's immune system (F). It is said that the first tracing of the flu was from the ancient Greek philosopher and physician Hippocrates (D). It is recommended by the CCD that anyone ages 6 months and older should receive the flu shot for protection against influenza (D). Despite opposition by anti-vaccine families, the flu vaccines should be mandatory because it helps prevent people from being sick, the shot does not allow people to give the flu to others as easily, and the flu vaccine is the fastest way to get rid of influenza.

According to the CDC, the flu is “a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever, severe aching, and catarrh, and often occurring in epidemics.” The flu causes a large number of hospitalizations and excess death per year, and there have been continuous debates over in the U.S. over the necessity of flu immunization and the financial burden of providing health services such as the flu vaccine. Every year vaccinations are made available, but are considered optional. However, a study conducted by Quian Gu, and Neraj Sood, observed the association between the dangers of the flu infection and the likelihood of getting immunized. The study concluded that those with socio-economic disadvantages and unhealthy lifestyles were less likely to get immunized, and by collecting scientific data nationally, the study found that flu immunizations were consistent with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) “High Priority” model of vaccination—those participating in the study who were labeled as a high priority for influenza vaccinations were more likely to receive them than others.

Infectious epidemics and pandemics have happened all through mankind's history. “They remain the prime cause of death worldwide and will not be conquered during our lifetimes.” The flu of 1918 was one of the deadliest epidemics in history. “It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became sick, and some 675,000 Americans died during the pandemic.” No one knew how the virus spread, there were no antibiotics to fight it, and no flu shots to prevent it. In the final year of World War I, it struck terror in the hearts of people all across Europe and left more death in its wake than the combined military actions of the combatants. “It killed more Americans in a few months than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the

47.1% of the US population gets flu shots and 5-20% of the us population gets sick from the flu. 200,000 people get hospitalized related to the flu and about 36,000 people die each year. I know this might sound crazy, but a lot of these people get vaccinated and still get sick, hospitalized and die from influenza or more commonly known as the flu. People shouldn’t get flu shots because it doesn’t decrease the risk of getting the flu. Another reason is it contains live flu cells and Mercury, which both are bad for your body.

The first major discoveries that laid the foundation for technological advances in the world of vaccinations were that of Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur. In 1796, Jenner took on smallpox. He had been informed that milkmaids seemed to be immune to the disease, however, upon further inspection he realized that the women all had a lesser form of smallpox, called cowpox, on their hands. He began to theorize that cowpox played a role as to why the women never contracted the deadly disease. To test his theory, he rubbed pus from a cowpox wound into a laceration of a young boy and then exposed him to smallpox. Weeks later, the boy still hadn’t contracted the more lethal disease, smallpox. He called this a vaccine, however, he had no idea as to why this was or what the connection was between the two diseases. As such, people of this age were skeptical to test the new vaccine.

In India, when smallpox broke out, the blood from a survivor of the disease was rubbed in a cut on the skin of an uninfected person. An individual got infected with the disease but healed soon after. Throughout time, vaccinations have evolved through the work of scientists and doctors. In the 1700’s, Edward Jenner created the “vaccine” when he eliminated smallpox with cowpox. People were frightened of becoming a cow since the vaccination being inserted into their body contained a disease from a cow (Nova 1). Even though cowpox was completely harmless to the human body, people with strong religious views did not seem to think so. However, vaccinations have extremely improved from Jenner’s discovery. Vaccines now are safer with better

Vaccines change over time as science makes advancements and diseases processes evolve and emerge. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates recognized the now preventable diseases, such as diphtheria and mumps (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015). The first effort to immunize dates back to the 1100’s when children were inoculated with scabs from individuals who recently had small pox, with a technique coined as variolation. Then in 1796, Edward Jenner successfully created the first small pox vaccine (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015).

This is called an immune response. Vaccination is an attempt to manipulate the immune system to provide protection from disease caused by a pathogen without subjecting the person to the actual disease. The cowpox virus was sufficiently similar to the smallpox virus that if an individual were exposed to cowpox, the person would develop antibodies that would subsequently attack and disable the smallpox virus. This basic principle discovered by Jenner over two hundred and fifty years ago is used today to develop the dozens of vaccines we take for granted.

As a result, the burden placed on the health care system is significantly reduced. Therefore, people at a high risk of contracting influenza should seriously consider being vaccinated. Evidence suggests that educating high-risk people about the influenza vaccine is worthwhile. For example, during the influenza season of 2000-2001, 70% of adults 65 years of age and older received the flu shot. This suggests

Each year in the United States, 3000–49,000 influenza associated deaths occur, with over 90% reported among older adults aged 65 years or older. Influenza also results in an estimated 226,000 hospitalizations, with hospitalization rates among older adults increasing over the past 2 decades (Nace et al., 2015). Influenza is a highly transmissible viral illness that may lead to severe complications from underlying diseases, primary viral or secondary bacterial pneumonia and death (NCBI, 2015). Immunization is one of the most powerful and cost effective interventions against

Edward Jenner soon encountered a milder version of the smallpox disease called, “cowpox”. He noticed that the milkmaids started getting blisters that looked just like the ones on the cow’s udder. Jenner decided to take fluid from a cowpox blister and put it on the skin of an eight year old named James Phipps. James developed a blister, but it healed quickly. Since James recovered quickly from the cowpox, Jenner decided to infect James Phipps with smallpox and James did not get smallpox. This meant that the vaccine did work. The doctors in Europe started using Jenner’s idea and this made diseases decline. Vaccines have been used and recommended ever since Edward Jenner had discovered the very first vaccine. An immunization is an action of making someone immune to infection. A vaccine is an injection that helps your body learn how to fight diseases. Immunizations should be mandatory for people living in the United States because of their own protection, to help put an end

According to Healthy People 2020 a goal of theirs is to “increase immunization rates and reduce preventable infections.” The influenza virus is one of these preventable infections, which can cause serious harm to patients. The influenza virus is known as the “flu.” Everyone in his or her life has had some experience with the flu, whether that is himself or herself or a family member. What if there was a way to ensure people from contracting a strain of the influenza virus? Well, thanks to technology and medical research there is.

Immunisations made a debut to the world in the early 1800’s after Edward Jenner created the smallpox vaccination. Vaccine can be defined as a product containing dead or weakened antigens of a specific disease so that the body’s immune system is able to recognise the disease.1 The term immunisation can be defined as the administration of a vaccine to stimulate the body’s natural immune system to build resistance as well as immunity to a specific disease.2 Whether or not immunisations do more to benefit an individual is controversial. One disadvantage of immunisations is the implications that can occur. Another negative view is that artificial immunity is not as