The Pandemic of Influenze Essay

Wild aquatic fowl, ducks in particular, serve as a reservoir for the Influenza virus to transmit into poultry and then to humans. Infected birds shed flu viruses in their saliva, nasal secretions, and feces (CDC, 2004). The current virus seen in Asia is denoted as H5N1 and was first seen in terns in South Africa in 1961 (CDC, 2004). The first human seen infection of the avian H5N1 viruses was in 1997 in Hong Kong in a three- year old boy (Ruben, 2005). The outbreak involved 18 cases and killed 6, one third of the confirmed infected population (Rueben, 2005). In three days 1.5 million birds were killed in order to prevent further spread. A new pandemic is now on the horizon with recent outbreaks in poultry in the eight Asian countries of Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam since 2004 (CDC, 2005). As of July 5, 2005, there have been 108 reported human cases of the H5N1 virus with 54 deaths (CDC, 2004). In wake of a

Influenza A, B, and C viruses are responsible for epidemics in humans. They are “characterized by a segmented, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome” (Grossman & Porth, 2014, p. 932). The influenza A virus contains 2 subtypes: hemagglutinin

There are three types of flu, namely Influenza type A, Influenza B and Influenza C. Influenza A Influenza A is not only found in humans, it is also capable of infecting animals. Although this disease is more often associated for humans to suffer this type of flu. Mostly some animals can also suffer this to be specific the mammals and birds can also have this; and is the only species of this said influenza.

In the article “Avian Influenza: An Agricultural Perspective,” Andrea Morgan (2006) researched the impact avian influenza has on different parts of the world. In her research she realized that the most harmful pandemic of the disease was the “Spanish influenza” which affected 50 million people worldwide. The strain of avian influenza Morgan based her research around was the H5N1 influenza A, which is found in poultry. She researched how fast the influenza can be transmitted and who it affected worldwide. In order to prevent the spread of influenza in the United States, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) follows specific measures to ensure that they do not contain the outbreak (Morgan, p. 139). Influenza is most commonly found in birds, but it can also be transmitted to swine causing it to be more easily developed in humans. Which leads to research done by Piaggio, Clark, Franklin, and

This season has witnessed the presence and impact that two flu strains, the A-H1N1, and the A-H3N2, but it is the A-H3N2 that is the main culprit guilty of causing the majority of influenza incidents this season. The A-H3N2 is noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as being linked to serious ailment in people over 65 and young kids, with at-risk kids being those under the age of 2. It is a rapidly mutating virus and is capable of evading vaccine, which is characterized as being 30% effective against the A-H3N2 strain. This means that this virus is nastier, capable of sending more people to the hospital, complicating underlying conditions, and causing more deaths.

Influenza A is a virus also known as type A flu. The virus is capable of infecting animals and human beings. However, it is more common for humans to suffer the ailments associated with this type of flu. This type of virus is generally responsible for a large outbreak of the flu epidemic. More specifically, influenza is a contagious respiratory infection, which is caused by a variety of viruses.

A disease that can affect numerous species ranging from humans to birds and even swine is the influenza virus (Kapoor and Dhama 2014). The influenza virus is separated into three genera; A, B, C (Kapoor and Dhama 2014). While all three types of influenza have their own effects on different populations the one that is mostly known for pandemics is influenza virus A (Kapoor and Dhama 2014). This viral strain functions through a different charged sense located in its RNA genome; an area where deleterious mutations can increase in the body of its hosts allowing replication (Webster and Govorkova 2014). The popular subtype that cause the respiratory immune issue is mostly from H1N1; a serious and deathly disease (Kapoor and Dhama 2014). While influenza virus A can cause numerous complications to the human population it is also known for its relationship among humans and mammals (Kapoor and Dhama 2014). The virus circulates among many bird species causing concerns and risks to spread in further populations worldwide (Webster and Govorkova 2014). NEED MORE INTRO

The short-term effects on a singular human for this virus would be a high fever, chills, headaches, severe back pain, vomiting and abdominal pain. The short-term effects on the whole human race would not be extremely dangerous until it begins to mutate to become more transmissive. The long-term effects on a singular person would be severe organ failure as well as the previous effects and also immune suppression of their immune system. The long-term effects on the whole human race would be extreme infection worldwide with easily over half of the world infected. The final impacts on the human race would be

among aquatic birds. This huge source of genetic variation is what makes the Type A virus the most likely to undergo antigenic shift. The influenza virus is made up of eight gene segments. When a human influenza virus and an avian influenza virus come in contact with one another, they swap gene segments and create a new hybrid virus. (World Health Organization, 2005). This hybrid virus may encompass the virulent factors of both parent viruses. Since this influenza strain is new, organisms don?t have a preexisting immunity to it and this fact guarantees the virus a wide variety of susceptible hosts, allowing it to cause severe damage. Second, since the virus now contains human influenza genes, it can be transmitted efficiently between humans, fulfilling all the conditions required to cause a pandemic. The process mentioned above can be further explained by examining the virus?s structure. Type A influenza viruses

Swine influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Influenza viruses that commonly circulate in swine are called “swine influenza viruses” or “swine flu viruses.” Like human influenza viruses, there are different subtypes and strains of swine influenza viruses. The main swine influenza viruses circulating in U.S. pigs in recent years are:

The Avian Influenza virus also known as Bird flu is a disease that infects birds such as, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. Symptoms of the infection are respiratory disease, unable to produce eggs, and fatality. Usually the symptoms are unnoticeable. There are two main types of Asian Influenza is LPAI and HPAI. LPAI is low pathogenicity meaning birds are not as likely to die from the virus. HPAI H5 is highly pathogenic, more severe and has a higher mortality rate. Outbreaks of this disease started in Europe and Asian. In 2015 there has been reports that AI has infected poultry in the United States.

The influenza virus is an RNA virus has an envelope that included members of the family Orthomyxoviridae. Its genome is a single negative strand segmented RNA. This virus consists of three types: A, B, and C. Influenza types A and B has eight segments of RNA, but the influenza virus type C only has 7

To say that the flu of 1918 (The Spanish flu) was huge would be an understatement. Over the course of two years this flu killed millions of people not only in the United States but a total of five hundred million people worldwide. The flu is caused by the infectious types of the Influenza virus A, B and C. Types A and B are what cause the seasonal flu. Type A is further broken down into two classifications based on their proteins, these classifications are: hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA).

As it turns out, H5N1 (avian influenza) is a type of influenza A. While influenzas B and C only affect humans, influenza A can affect all kinds of animals as well as humans. Influenza B one of the more common types of flu and is usually associated with coughing and soreness. Influenza C is the most common and its symptoms are so mild that it can pass as a normal cold. The least common and most severe, is obviously influenza A. Influenza A is constantly changing and evolving so thats why scientists are keeping a close eye on it. All types of influenza A, not just H5N1, are at risk of becoming another flu epidemic. The virus is on the verge of being able to pass from person to person. Right now, the solution is to kill all the infected animals and burn them. What are we going to do when it starts passing from animals to humans, and then to other humans? We can’t just kill all the infected humans and hope it goes away. Scientists are trying to stop the viruses before they start evolving and transmitting in new

Avian influenza results from infection by viruses belonging to the species influenza A virus, genus influenza virus A and family Orthomyxoviridae. These viruses are also called type A influenza viruses. Influenza A viruses are further classified into subtypes based on two surface proteins, the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) (Tong et al, 2013). The viruses are roughly spherical (120 nM) with glycoprotein spikes on the surface and genome consisting of also eight RNA fragments that encode 10 proteins. The haemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) and matrix (M2) proteins are embedded in the envelope lipid bilayer derived from the host cell (Lamb and Krug, 2001) (figure1). The M1 protein underlying the envelope is the major determinant