Application Of C5. 0 Algorithm To Flu Prediction Using Twitter Data

Throughout the history, influenza viruses have caused several pandemics or global epidemics, killing many people. For example, the influenza strike in 1918 to 1919 infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, which is one-third of the planet’s population at the time and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people. More than 25 percentage of the U.S. population were affected, and caused 675,000 deaths in U.S during the pandemic.(History, 2015). There were no effective treatments for this type of influenza and no available vaccines can prevent its spread during the period. (History, 2015) U.S government required general population to wear masks and other protective equipments in public areas, and many public places also closed due to the influenza strike. Health care providers tried everything they knew to save people, but none shows any evidence of effects. (National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2015). Scientists found out that the influenza virus had invaded their lungs and caused pneumonia, which made so many people died from the pandemic (History,2015). Another influenza strike happened

The graphs of the deaths due to the spring flu revealed that it had the Spanish flu’s distinct “W” shaped curve. While normal human flu tends to kill off people who are either very young or very old, the Spanish flu killed all those and more. It was unusual in that it also had many deaths in the age range of 20-40, whose members were generally more robust than flu’s usual victims (Kolata, Flu 5). Yue-Ming Loo and Michael Gale, Jr. discuss a study by Darwyn Kobasa and many other scientists

Awareness  and   availability  will  impact  the  incidence  of  an  outbreak.     The  China  outbreak  was  not   well  understood;  therefore,  preventative  measures  were  not  yet  in  place.  Many  were   exposed  and  infected  but  were  not  developing  clinical  disease,  and  only  seven  of  the   18  cases  had  direct  or  indirect  contact  with  poultry.  Universal  precautions  and   practicing  good  hygiene  is  the  best  way  to  prevent  the  spread  of  influenza.

This new influenza baffled researchers and doctors everywhere. Up to this point, all viral diseases has spread prominently throughout heavily populated areas and into the lungs of the very young, very old, or sickly. On the contrary, the Influenza of 1918 swept through the Midwest and preyed on the

At the peak of the 2014-2015 Seasonal Influenza Pandemic in the United States, 9.3% of all deaths reported in the 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System were attributed to Pneumonia and Influenza (P&I), underscoring how lethal the flu can be, especially to people who are already sick, children, and the elderly. In the first week of February 2015, over 60% of influenza-associated hospitalizations involved patients 65 and older, the highest rate since the CDC began tracking that data in 2005. Extrapolating that, more than 92,000 people aged 65 and older had been hospitalized

There is a division in the medical community about the benefits of getting vaccinated against the flu. Some medical professionals insist that vaccination against the flu can decrease death by fifty percent, while others provide evidence against such a claim. It is difficult to determine how many people die from the flu, who has the flu, and which strain of the flu someone has. There are over 200 viruses that cause flu like systems. In reality, researchers believe that only 7 or 8 percent of cases of people actually contract the flu that report systems associated with the flu such as, headache, fever, coughing, etc. The flu can mutate very quickly causing the virus to differ every flu season if only slightly. Thus, members of the World Health

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

It traveled across the United States in weeks, the globe in only a few months, and it could have a rapid course, progressing from early symptoms to death in a day. The epidemic had two other crucial characteristics. It did not respect the epidemiologic rules taught by influenza outbreaks ignoring risk factors such as age and localized outbreaks. Its symptoms were gruesome: Your face turns a dark brownish purple. You start to cough up blood. Your feet turn black. A blood-tinged saliva bubbles out of your mouth. You die--by drowning. It was a mystery with no known origin, no known etiology, and no treatment. From its extraordinary ability to reach into everyday life in every nation to the special trains to carry away the dead, the epidemic is a story of mythic proportions. Along with these colossal attributes, it is also given, in popular thought, the power of

Most people perceive “the flu” to be a common (not a big deal) illness, but they overlook the 20,000 deaths and over 100,000 hospitalizations nationwide.

People are misled to believe that flu-related deaths are based on body counts, lab tests or autopsies. Shockingly, the numbers of flu deaths are based on a statistical guess and assumptions made from a computer model (Growe). Dr. Michael Gardam, director of the infection prevention and control unit at the University Health Network in Toronto and Dr. Tom Jefferson, a researcher with the Cochrane Collaboration were interviewed by a CBC News reported Kelly Growe. Both doctors stated that the computer model is unreliable and is nothing more than guesswork that is far from the truth. Dr. Michael Graham supported his statement by explaining how “one model counts all respiratory and circulatory deaths - that’s death from heart and lung failure - as flu deaths. Deaths from pneumonia, even though not all pneumonia is caused by flu” are categorized within the model as flu deaths during the flu season. Ironically, according to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “people who caught the Spanish flu in 1918(the world’s worst pandemic flu in history that lead to 20 million deaths worldwide) did not die from it, but from the complications caused by bacteria, such as pneumonia” (“Pandemic Flu History”). Statistics Canada stated that there were about 300 influenza-related deaths each year between 2000 and 2008. Following the flu pandemic, H1N1 hit in 2009, the final count of flu-related deaths among 34

Avian influenza is a disease that has been wreaking havoc on human populations since the 16th century. With the recent outbreak in 1997 of a new H5N1 avian flu subtype, the world has begun preparing for a pandemic by looking upon its past affects. In the 20th Century, the world witnessed three pandemics in the years of 1918, 1957, and 1968. In 1918 no vaccine, antibiotic, or clear recognition of the disease was known. Killing over 40 million in less than a year, the H1N1 strain ingrained a deep and lasting fear of the virus throughout the world. Though 1957 and 1968 brought on milder pandemics, they still killed an estimated 3 million people and presented a new

The H3N2 Hong Kong Flu or “Avian Flu” of 1968 and the H1N1 “Russian Flu” of 1977 also appeared to begin at an unknown location somewhere in China. In both cases, the outbreaks spread quickly and consistently to go on and affect India, Iran, Australia, North America, and Russia. Between both instances of these pandemics, roughly sixty thousand deaths were recorded.

Spring of 2009 in the US, there was an appearance of widespread influenza A (pH1N1) which affected school aged children of ages 18 years and younger. It is critical to understand the appearance of the influenza virus and the factors in the population because children play an important role in the spread of influenza virus. The school year of 2009-2010, we assessed several of the Pennsylvania Influenza Sentinel School Monitoring System (PISSMS). They are a voluntary system of schools that reports data regarding absenteeism and trips to the school nurse for influenza-like illnesses (ILI). Contributors included participating schools and nonparticipating schools to evaluate representativeness. Participating schools provided data regarding absenteeism

We all know that the Flu season brings up a lot of queries about the disease prevention. The next question is where we can find a reliable source of information. This will then lead us to look for a website that is credible. While there are several accurate and reliable information, I chose Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as CDC. This is one of the operating bodies of the Department of Health that deals mainly on the identification, prevention, control of diseases and promotion of health education to improve the health of the citizens of the United States of America. Numerous search engines in the web world can be utilized to access the website, URL “http://www.cdc.gov.” Based on my knowledge and experience, the CDC website has been proven to be a trusted website because of its reputation of providing factual health information about disease control and prevention. CDC is one of the government agency that provides guidelines in terms of disease control and prevention.

Background & Audience Relevance: Influenza is an infection that can affect anyone around the world. Am quite sure almost everyone, if not all of us, have been infected with influenza at some point in our lives.