Influenza (AKA the flu)

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Introduction/Background/History:

Influenza better known as “The Flu” strikes the world every year infecting millions of people throughout different countries. Influenza is a deadly virus is an extremely contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza viruses. Flu appears most frequently in winter and early spring. The influenza virus attacks the body by spreading through the upper or lower respiratory tract. There have been documented traces of the flu as early as the 12th century. The flu came back on surfaced the Earth in early in the 20th century around World War One in China. Approximately infecting 20% to 40% of the world’s population became ill. This pandemic virus killed more than anything disease in human history the death toll ranging from 50 to 100 million people. Nearly 675,000 people died in the United States of this epidemic. The world’s population in 1918 was 1.8 billion to now 7.1 billion in 2014. An estimated 8 million people in Spain became sicken with the flu. Known as the “Spanish flu” it was highly informed about in newspapers across Spain. The Spanish flu had so many people to die from this disease it was referred back to “Black Death” in the middle ages. The virus spread quickly as troops aboard warships went to different parts of the Earth during WWI.

In February 1957, a new flu virus came about in Asia officials predicted another pandemic. Health officials monitored flu outbreaks until a vaccine could be produced. Unfortunately the elderly immune system was too weak to fight off the flu about 69,800 people died from this majority were the elderly. A little over ten years after the second outbreak had happened in 1968 health officials detected the United States ano...

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...pe A viruses are the most common among the three in cases dealing with humans. Although the flu is more stabilized than it has ever been in history there are still epidemic outbreaks in the world.

Works Cited

Watters, M.D, W.H.. (1919). Vaccines in Influenza. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 181 (10), PP 727-313.

Slemons, Richard. D. (1973). Type A Influenza Viruses Isolated from Wild Free-Flying Ducks in California. Avian Diseases, 18 (1), PP 321-342.

Potter, C.W. (2008). A History of Influenza. Journal of applied Microbiology, 91 (4), PP 572-579.

Petersen, E. A. (2014).Influenza Tucson, Ariz, Medfilms Inc.

Coila, Bridget.. (2011, Mar. 11 ). In About Type B Strain Flu. Retrieved Feb. 7, 2014, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/164798-about-type-b-strain-flu/

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