Bird Flu Virus Research Paper

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

Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) is commonly found in the intestines of birds. It is uncommon for the influenza to infect humans but there have been confirmed cases of human infection since 1997. Normally people acquire the infection via domesticated birds such as chickens, turkeys and ducks. The virus is secreted by the birds through their feces, salvia and nasal secretions. Symptoms of the flu are very similar to those of other types of influenza and include: fever, fatigue, sore throat, coughs, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, chest pain and muscle aches. As of January 2007, the World Health Organization

Every year, millions of people start talking about the influenza virus and getting their vaccines as the flu season approaches, which starts around the October-November period and reaches its peak between December and March. Therefore, public health officials around the world- and in the U.S in particular- are constantly challenged by properly preparing for the annual influenza dilemma, given that this viruses, and other respiratory viruses, are a serious health threat to the U.S population and the world as a whole. Furthermore, what makes the influenza virus even more challenging to control is that it can mutate rapidly and reassort to form new strains, having the ability to reside in multiple animal hosts. In fact, many scientists and researchers have been doing in-depth intensive research so as to understand the mechanism behind this unique characteristic of the virus, try to find new ways to control it, and explore different areas of protection and vaccination.

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

The seasonal influenza vaccine has been in existence for a numerous amount of decades, therefore so has the gradual implementation of the vaccination. Through recent studies, the break through knowledge of the importance of enforcing the requirement of this vaccine for children has acquired increasing acceptance statistics. During the many outbreaks of different classified strands of avian influenza, the health care community has been unable to retain the virus and alleviate patients efficiently. However current tallies have shown that the system for controlling these outbreaks have improved lowering the mortality rate profoundly. (BioScience Trends, 2013).

Influenza remains as a significant global threat to public health. In United States alone, a typical influenza epidemic results in over 25 million infections, 300,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths every year (1). The virus evolves antigenically from one year to the next, requiring annual reformulation of the vaccine and leading to variable vaccine efficacy. Exacerbating this natural antigenic evolution, adaptation to the chicken eggs may occur during the manufacture of virus used to produce the inactivated vaccine (2). This year such adaptation has reduced the vaccine efficacy against H3N2 strain (3). Low vaccine efficacy is expected to generate higher attack rates, as has already occured in Australia (3, 4). Compounding the effects of low vaccine efficacy, public perception following the widespread media attention may depress vaccine uptake for a given year. The combination of low vaccine efficacy and low coverage has the potential to reduce herd immunity, putting the population at risk of elevated infection incidence and ultimately high rates of infections and mortality. Consequently, optimizing epidemiological effectiveness of vaccination given vaccine efficacy is imperative to minimize the annual mortality and morbidity of influenza.

Influenza is a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages that causes severe body aches, high fever, and can sometimes lead to death. To be protected, you must be immunized every year. “A new study found that the influenza vaccine prevents type A and type B in only 1.5 out of every 100 vaccinated adults, but the media portrays these statistics as this meaning the vaccination is 60 percent effective” (Medline Plus). Unfortunately, this does not mean 60 out of 100 people who receive the flu shot leads to protection against influenza. Researchers can confirm that most strains of influenza are harmless against healthy individuals; however, the virus has an ability to mutate into different strains which can cause an extensive

Each year, there is an estimated 36,000 deaths associated with influenza, about 1,250 from the United States. Influenza (also known as the flu) is a highly contagious respiratory illness that attacks the upper respiratory tract. In some cases, it can cause a mild to severe illness, but in other in others it can lead to death. Many try to eliminate getting the flu at all by getting an influenza vaccine. The influenza vaccine has produced controversy all over the United States, as some say it is highly dangerous, while most medical professionals strongly advise it. Although it may be the greatest chance of not catching influenza, it can come with serious complications and side effects that can damage or even kill a person. The current debate on the topic questions whether the vaccine is safe, if it’s necessary, and if it actually works.

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

Once there was a virus named Birdie. This virus was a Bird Flu, or Avian Influenza, virus of the subtype H5N1, the first strain of Avian Influenza having the ability to infect humans (Normandin and Solan). Birdie looked like a microscopic pomander, a fragrant orange with cloves stuck in it. Inside, she had eight pieces of single stranded ribonucleic acid or ssRNA. Birdie was deadly to humans, but was not able to spread from one human to another. She could only spread from birds to humans ("Bird Flu"). Birdie started out inside a chicken named Cluck, where she was formed. A little while later, Cluck's farmer Mark, sold his Cluck, to Joe, another poultry farmer because Mark did not realize that Cluck had H5N1. After a few months of Cluck living

The outlook for the bird flu viral infection depends on how intense the infection becomes and on the specifics of each strain.

IAV is a virus classified as part of the orthomyxoviridae and one of the causative agents of influenza or “the flu”. (Edinger, Pohl & Stertz, 2014) Its natural reservoir is primarily wild aquatic fowl where it is mostly nonpathogenic, though zoonotic infections can occur in mammals and domestic fowl. (Klenk, Matrosovich & Stech, 2008) The jump between species often results in the establishment of highly pathogenic variants that can have devastating effects, as was the case of the “Spanish” influenza pandemic of 1918. (Taubenberger, 2006) The infection across special barriers is dependent on changes to the structure of glycoproteins on the viral envelope, particularly haemagglutinin (HA). The different subtypes of HA and neuraminidase (NA) serve to classify different viral lineages. These changes in the structure can result in proteolytic activation; that when coupled to changes of receptor binding specificity allow for interspecies transmission. (Klenk, Matrosovich & Stech, 2008) The modifications can affect the pathogenicity of the virus even within the same species, which can allow for infection of new cell types, or even systemic disease. (Steinhauer, 1999) These mutations accumulate through successive replications or genetic re-assortment during confection. The resulting structural changes account for the observed antigenic drift that causes loss of immunity despite prior exposures to the virus. This evolutionary process drives the consistent

The flu, short for influenza is a virus often overlooked but caught by mostly everyone that is evolving every day. There are many different strains of the flu, and there are more and more being discovered as time goes by. This virus has had many outbreaks which have caused massive amounts of panic throughout the world. Although efforts on fighting the virus have come extremely far in recent years, it is only a matter of time until there is another outbreak. It is extremely important for people to be educated on the flu, and also be taking the proper precautionary actions to try to prevent themselves or their family members from catching it. One of the best ways to do this is to go and get a flu vaccination. These vaccinations are an easy, quick, and necessary way for people to protect themselves from the flu virus. Many different places have implemented mandatory flu vaccinations because of the effectiveness they have in the reduction of flu cases across the world.

By comparing recent flu strains with the 1918 influenza scientists found reasons to believe that the1918 influenza pandemic began as a bird virus. The bird virus would have adapted to humans overtime eventually becoming as deadly to humans as it had been to birds. Once the virus adapted to humans it was spread through the physicality of a handshake or hug which is highly common among humans.

Avian Influenza is a major controversy in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Many researchers have researched the outbreak and how it contributes to the world we live in. Avian Influenza impacts a variety of people, places, and animals in the world. The articles reviewed discuss the different cases where avian influenza outbreak has impacted a major area and how they are ridding the virus. The articles vary from how the virus affects humans, to how it affects other animals, and the precautions used by different areas if the virus encounters.