Year 9 science assessment task 2
Disease Investigation and Source Analysis
SWINE FLU
Where did Swine Flu come from and could it be a threat to humans?
Introduction
Swine Flu is an interesting disease to research as it sounds like it could be a serious life threatening pandemic. There was an outbreak in 2008 and I remember it being on TV. Swine Flu also known as H1N1 was known as a pandemic in 2008. A pandemic is a wide spread outbreak of an infectious disease. Swine Flu is a highly contagious respiratory disease, it can be transferred from human contact, droplets from a cough or sneeze and from surfaces that have come into contact with infected droplets i.e. tables, phones, handrails, tissues etc., the disease can live for about 2 hours outside
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A cough or sneeze can spread a few thousand germs around the room. Swine Flu is caused by the influenza virus that normally infects pigs. The main transmission isn't from pigs to people, but from person to person. Swine Flu is known to have started around 2008, researchers believe it lingered in Mexico for a while and was mistaken for the common flu. It spread from pigs mucus to humans and then with people travelling around the world by human to human contact, sneezing, coughing, and even by standing near someone talking (droplets of saliva) with the virus.
When the Swine Flu, H1N1 pandemic broke out Australia International borders were monitored by Department of Health staff and Border Agency staff by screening all people entering Australia through international ports. People detected with high temperatures were referred on to Doctors. Once the virus was found to be not as deadly as first believed and that it was an impossible disease to stop from entering Australia anyway, the screening at Australia’s international borders were
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Tamiflu is a recommended drug to treat Swine Flu. You should only take Tamiflu if you have been in direct contact with a person that has been diagnosed with Swine Flu. Discuss with a doctor if it is necessary to take Tamiflu.
Conclusion
Generally Swine Flu should not be fatal to humans unless you fall into a high risk category of poor health. The best way to not contract Swine Flu, is not to contract it at all, prevention is better than cure. Frequent washing of hands is a must. Get a vaccination for Swine Flu if you believe you are at risk of contracting it. Plenty of sleep and a healthy diet and lifestyle is a must. Avoid sick pigs or sick people if possible. Avoid travel to countries or places where there has been an outbreak of Swine Flu.
REFERENCE LIST
Swine flu 2015, Better Health Channel, accessed 8 September 2015, .
Krause, L 2012, Swine flu, Health line, accessed 8 September 2015, .
Davis, C 2015, Swine flu, Medicine net, accessed 15 September 2015, .
Masterson, K 2009, Where did swine flu come from? NPR, accessed 16 September 2015, .
McCormack, 2015, personal communication (Quarantine
It has not taken human to human transmission yet, that we know of. So far all cases of the virus result from people coming into close contact with bird blood or droppings. If the transmission of the virus does take human to human form, it could unleash a global pandemic. This is the first time in history that humans have been able to prepare themselves for an epidemic. The bird flu virus travels with migrating birds.
John. M. Barry, The Great Influenza, The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (New York: Penguin, 2004), 179
However due to globalization, import and export viruses is more easily transmitted. Over the past century the global community especially Asian has been affected with new strains of the influenza virus. The changes in the virus can occur in two ways “antigenic drift” which are gradual changes in the virus over time. This change produces new strains that the antibody may not recognize. “Antigenic shift” On the other is a sudden change in the influenza virus which ‘’ results in a new influenza A subtype or a virus with a hemagglutinin or a hemagglutinin and neuraminidase combination that has emerged from an animal population,” as seen with H5N1 virus. This change leaves people defenseless against this new virus. (CDC, 2013) Currently there is no vaccine to combat all strains therefore “Planning and preparedness for implementing mitigation strategies during a pandemic requires participation by all levels o...
"Pandemic Flu History." Home. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web. 23 Mar.
For long before the 1918 pandemic, doctors had been trying to isolate the microorganism that causes influenza. In 1892, one man, Dr. Friedrich Johann Pfeiffer, believed he had the answer. His discovery, Pfeiffer’s bacillus or Hemophilus influenzae, was widely known as the culprit. However, during the first wave of the 1918 pandemic, doctors lost faith in Pfeiffer’s bacillus. They searched for it in patients, but rarely found it. In the second wave, the bacterium was present in many, but by no means all, cases of Spanish flu. If it was the cause of influenza, it should have been present in all cases (Kolata, Flu 64-65).
...influenza pandemic in one way or another; the use of quarantines were extremely prevalent among them. Also, the pandemic is directly responsible for the creation of many health organizations across the globe. The organizations help track and research illnesses across the globe. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) for example, strive to prevent epidemics and pandemics. They also provide a governing body with directives to follow in case an outbreak does occur, and if one shall occur the efforts of organizations across the globe will be crucial for its containment. It is amazing that with modern medicine and proper organization that influenza still manages to make its appearance across the globe annually.
Influenza is a major public health problem which has outbreaks all over the world. Resulting in considerable sickness and death rates. Furthermore, it is a highly infectious airborne disease and is caused by the influenza virus. Influenza is transmitted easily from one person to another person, which has a great impact on society. When a member of society becomes sick, it is more prone to spread to other people.
Influenza is very contagious and spreads rapidly from person to person. Influenza causes worldwide yearly epidemics. According to World Health organization Influenza affects 5-15% world’s population and resulting in 500,000 deaths yearly. Ottenberg stated that, in United States, an average of 200,000 were hospitalized and 36,000 died each year from influenza complications. Influenza is the sixth leading cause of death among US adults and is related to 1 in 20 death in persons older than 65 years. Disease control and prevention estimates indicate that infections like H1N1 which is one of the types of influenza, have resulted in an estimated 42 to 86 million cases and 8520 to 17620 deaths. As I mentioned earlier that infections like influenza are very contagious, they can spread easily from hcw to Patient and back to hcw. The most efficient and effective method of preventing influenza infection is vaccination(The best way to prevent influenza is with annual vaccination).(Sullivan,2010) (Gregory,Tosh &Jacobson, 2005). Motivated by a desire to actively avoid illness Influenza may increase the risk for death in people with existing heart, lung, or circulation disorders. In fact, the higher than average number of winter deaths in people with heart disease may be due only to the occurrence of influenza during those months.Vaccination provides immunity to fight against infection.To increase resistance to harm by modifying the environment to minimize preventable illness (NEED TO CHANGE WORDING)
At no time was a search for the cure for influenza more frantic than after the devastating effects of the pandemic of 1918. The pandemic killed somewhere between twenty and a hundred million people, making it twenty five times more deadly than the ordinary cough and sneeze flu. The symptoms of this flu were like something straight out of a horror movie: the victim’s facial complexion changed to a dark, brownish purple, the feet turned black, and they began to cough up blood. Eventually, death was caused, literally by drowning, when the victim’s lungs filled with their own blood. The first scientist to claim to solve the enigma of influenza was Dr. Friedrich Johann Pfeiffer. He isolated a bacterium he named Hemophilus influenzae from the respiratory tract of those who had the flu in the pandemic of 1890. He was believed to be correct in his discovery until the pandemic of 1918, when scientists searched the respiratory tracts of influenza victims and only sometimes found his bacterium. Robert E. Shope and his mentor Paul Lewis were the next to attempt to crack the code of influenza. They chose to study the disease in pigs, a controversial choice because many people believed that the swine influenza pigs were contracting was not the same as the human flu. The first experiment they ran was ba...
“The Site of Origin of The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Its Public Health Implications.” Barry, John. US national Library of Health Medicine, January 20, 2004. Retrieved from:
Hvistendahl, M, Cohen, J et. al. 2013. ‘New Flu Virus in China Worries and Confuses’ Science 340: 129-130
Currently, one cannot explore the news without coming across the topic of the swine flu, scientifically known as H1N1. Swine flu is a respiratory infection derived from the influenza virus. The virus contains genetic materials from human, swine, and avian flu viruses. It was first identified in spring 2009, and since then has spread rapidly across the globe. The infection’s spread has been verified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. As soon as the swine flu virus was isolated, scientists quickly developed a swine flu vaccine. Four vaccines have been approved by the FDA for the prevention of the swine flu. The vaccines will be ready for distribution in October 2009. Now the question is: To vaccinate, or not to vaccinate? Millions of people are now preparing to answer this question.
This disease was first diagnosed in 1918 and it was referred to as the “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe.” To this day it is thought to of been the same strain as the swine influenza however it is still unclear. For this particular outbreak it’s not exactly know whether humans contracted the virus from pigs or vice versa. Either way between 20-40 million people died from it. The first confirmed case of H1N1 in the U.S. was diagnosed on April 15th, 2009. The CDC quickly began developing a vaccine due to the fact that it was declared a public health emergency about a week later by the government. It tu...
The Flu was first founded in Seattle September, 1918. The avian flu can also be known as the “Bird Flu”. The bird flu is being passed around by migratory birds. It can be transmitted from birds to mammals and in some limited circumstances to humans. The flu will also be known as the H5N1 virus. The H5N1 virus has raised concerns about a potential human pandemic because its virulent (deadly; extremely dangerous) and it can evolve like other influenza viruses. As many other viruses and illnesses the flu can be a lot more deadlier. When you get the flu the lungs are severely harmed from infected cells called macrophages and T-cells. The virus can spread way beyond the lungs but generally do not. Many people catch the flu and think they have the common cold because of some of the same symptoms. But actually the flu can be more dangerous if you don’t treat it immediately.
In Australia in the last ten years more then 137 known people have died and many more fallen very ill from contagious and infectious disease. Diseases such as diphtheria; tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps rubella and Haemophilus influenzae, This is a great tragedy considering all these diseases are easily preventable by immunisation.