Influenza or "flu" is a rather contagious viral infection that infects the respiratory tract. Fever, cough, muscle aches, fatigue, rhinorrhea, and sore throat are the symptoms commonly associated with influenza virus. Individuals infected with influenza normally experience mild illness and recover within two weeks. However, specific groups, such as the elderly, young children, and individuals with co-morbidities, appear more susceptible to severe illness as well as mortality due to influenza related complications. H1N1, a causative agent of influenza was identified in spring of 2009. Communication of H1N1 and seasonal influenza occur through droplets created when individuals with the illness cough, sneeze, or talk. Indications of H1N1 include the symptoms associated with seasonal influenza but with the addition of diarrhea. Several key differences exist between H1N1 and seasonal influenza. Transmission of H1N1 transpires outside of the defined influenza season, which is October through May. Though the elderly are more vulnerable to seasonal influenza, young adults are more likely to be affected by H1N1. Hence, a shift in age groups affected by influenza and influenza like illness (ILI) is a critical indicator of the agent responsible for the alteration (Laine, Williams, & Trexler, 2009).
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic affected more than 150 countries, with an alarming 182,166 laboratory confirmed infections and approximately 1,800 deaths. As a result of this pandemic, vaccination costs and benefits were examined. It was determined that earlier vaccination is the basis for prevention of influenza associated mortality during the fall. Furthermore, increases in earlier vaccination practices was proven quite cost effective. Influenza vaccin...
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Services, D. o. (2014, February 13). Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Hospitalizations. Retrieved from FluView National Flu Activity Map: http://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/FluHospChars.html
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CDC (2007, 02) Community strategy for pandemic influenza mitigation in the United States Retrieved from http://www.flu.gov/planning-preparedness/community/community_mitigation.pdf
"Pandemic Flu History." Home. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web. 23 Mar.
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 flu of 1968 each killed millions of people worldwide, causing mass terror. People were mad with fear, and for good reason, as friends, family, neighbors dropped dead like flies. And yet, as soon as the deaths ceased, the forgetfulness set in… until very few know about these pandemics. These pieces of history may have faded from memory, but with the upcoming threat of an avian flu which can jump from human to human, people must learn from the past to combat the future.
Influenza is a major public health problem which 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. In the United States, every year between 5 to 20 percent of the population is affected by influenza. As a result of this, between 3,000 and 49,000 deaths have occurred per year (Biggerstaff et al., 2014). Therefore, the influenza vaccine is the most effective strategy to prevent influenza. This essay will examine two significant reasons for influenza vaccination which are the loss of workforce and economic burden as well as one effect regarding herd immunity.
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)
This week, influenza and the war continue to affect Manchester, causing mayhem as well as celebration within the county. Manchester residents, from toddlers to elders, bravely face the influenza epidemic onslaught and stand triumphant with minimal fatality. Unfortunately, the influenza epidemic did impact Manchester's social, economic and military life but without detrimental results....
In the fall of 1918 influenza appeared for the first time in pockets across the globe. At first it was pushed aside as a case of the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world's population was infected. (1) Including twenty-eight percent of all Americans. In those two years an estimated six hundred and seventy-five thousand Americans died because of influenza. This was the greatest scare Americans had ever seen from a single disease. People between the age of twenty and forty were at the greatest risk of infection. Even President Woodrow Wilson suffered from the flu in early 1919 while negotiating the crucial treaty of Versailles to end the World War. The public health departments distributed gauze masks to be worn in public. Stores could not hold sales; funerals were limited to 15 minutes. Some towns required a signed certificate to enter and railroads would not accept passengers without them. (1) Influenza had killed nearly as many American servicemen as died in battle, ten times and over that number of American civilians, and twice as many people in the world as died in combat on all fronts in the entire four...
Influenza is defined as an acute, commonly epidemic disease, occurring in several forms, caused by numerous rapidly mutating viral strains and characterized by respiratory symptoms and general prostration. Spanish flu was more than just a normal epidemic, it was a pandemic. Epidemics affect many people at the same time in areas where the disease doesn’t normally occur. A pandemic is an epidemic on a national, international, or global scale. The Spanish flu was different from the seasonal flu in one especially frightening way, there was an unusually high death rate among healthy adults aged 15 to 34 and lowered the life expectancy by more than ten years. Such a high death rate has not occurred in this age group in and epidemic prior to or since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. (Tumpey, 2005)
“Seasonal Influenza-Associated Hospitalization in the United States.” USA.gov, 24 June 2011. Web. 31 Jan. 2012
Gardam and Lemieux (2013) state that the effectiveness of the current influenza vaccine has been exaggerated in the medical literature and media. The seasonal flu shot protects against the three or four influenza viruses that researchers indicate will be most common during the upcoming season (CDC, p.1, 2015). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 2013’s vaccine was “only 55% effective against laboratory-confirmed influenza A and 70% effective against influenza B” (Gardam & Lemieux, 2013). Health care providers receiving the flu vaccination does not guarantee that patients may not be affected by different strains. Additionally HCP are not the only individuals who may expose patients to these pathogens, visiting family, and community members can also play a
The study was conducted to consider the outpatient burden. Most studies are done to provide results for hospitalizations and deaths. So, Matias & et al used a dummy variable approach to get the best model fit for each individual pathogen to include H1N1, H3N2, and Influenza B virus. Multiple regression linear models were used to compute the burden of mild outcomes due to these viruses. Results between 2001 and 2009 revealed 14.5 million visits to the physician, from individuals over 65 years of age due to Influenza. 1.7% were because of H1N1, 3.9% because of H3N2, and 4.1 % attributed to Influenza B. As have been noted, the study showed clear data on physicians visits due to the flu, which can be significantly reduced by following governmental recommendations, to get an Influenza vaccine prior to Influenza
Every year around the month of October the community, employers and health care workers are asked to take the Influenza Vaccine. The vast majority of the time people wonder, what happens if a healthcare worker doesn’t get vaccinated, are there really any harm being done? Pl’s (2010) article, “Influenza vaccination in healthcare worker: should it be mandatory? “goes in depth about n the article what exactly is the influenza vaccine, elimination of barriers of vaccination and is it even worth it for health care workers.
Influenza is a very serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and even fatalities. There are many different strands, infecting people of all ages and originating from different animals, which can be extremely fatal if the right care isn’t provided. Care for flu patients have changes tremendously over the years from once having no vaccine to having a limited amount of vaccines, only for the most prone individuals, to now having yearly vaccines to prevent the most common cases of flu. Doctors have learned just how deadly the flu virus can be which has led to the importance of them educating their patients of the flu virus and explaining the importance of getting the vaccine in order for their bodies to get an immunity of the many flu viruses that many in our country have previously faced. Many in our county in the past have died from the H1N1 virus due to no vaccines, poor precautions, and being uneducated on the virus because it was new, but new vaccines and precautions are being taken in order to prevent pandemics such as the Flu Pandemic of 1918.
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 1918-19 approximately 50 million deaths were a detriment of the Spanish H1N1 virus pandemic; a respiratory virus. According to the World Health Organization, the second Influenza A H1N1 pandemic in 2009 spread to more than 200 countries causing more than 18 000 deaths. Before the World Health Organization had announced the official end of the pandemic in August 2010, in July 2009 the World Health Organization sent out a phase 6 warning that H1N1 could soon be a global pandemic. It is important to recognize that the 2 different outbreaks had different A/H1N1strains effecting the world population; this suggests A/H1N1has a high ability for mutation, severely complicating the human body’s natural immune mechanism of antigenic drift. (Qi-Shi Du et al., 2010)