H1n1 Influenza Pandemics

In two years between 1918 and 1919, A pandemic of influenza swept mercilessly over the planet, killing millions which stood in its path. Miraculously, the exact origin of the pandemic is unclear. What is exceedingly clear, however, is that often the actions of man aided in the spread of the virus, whether due to inadvertent endangerment, close quarters, religious principles, or failure to recognize the true threat that influenza posed.

Also noted by the CDC, the H1N1 flu pandemic that occurred last year was the first pandemic in over 40 years.

One of the most virulent strains of influenza in history ravaged the world and decimated the populations around the world. Present during World War I, the 1918 strain of pandemic influenza found many opportunities to spread through the war. At the time, science wasn’t advanced enough to study the virus, much less find a cure; medical personnel were helpless when it came to fighting the disease, and so the flu went on to infect millions and kill at a rate 25 times higher than the standard.

In late spring 2009, the World Health Organization labeled the swine flu a pandemic. In October 2009, President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency when over 1,000 Americans, as well as nearly a hundred children, had died as a result of the swine flu. Unfortunately, we also faced a shortage of vaccines to deal with the outbreak. Responding to the flu outbreak was also slow. In April 2009, the United States federal government authorized production of the swine flu vaccine. Based on prior growth patterns of seasonal flu vaccines, it projected that 120 million doses

This influenza occurred at the latter point of “World War 1” coming at a vulnerable time for the world. Many people have already died due to the war, and many resources and money has already been consumed. So when the pandemic hit, it hit with a charge that left a great wound in the economy and health of the people not just in the U.S. but the world. People responded by taking more precautions in health and safety, and took radical response in the exterminating of animal populations.

The book The Great Influenza by John Barry takes us back to arguably one of the greatest medical disasters in human history, the book focuses on the influenza pandemic which took place in the year 1918. The world was at war in the First World War and with everyone preoccupied with happenings in Europe and winning the war, the influenza pandemic struck when the human race was least ready and most distracted by happenings all over the world. In total the influenza pandemic killed over a hundred million people on a global scale, clearly more than most of the deadliest diseases in modern times. John Barry leaves little to imagination in his book as he gives a vivid description of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and exactly how this pandemic affected the human race. The book clearly outlines the human activities that more or less handed the human race to the influenza on a silver platter. “There was a war on, a war we had to win” (Barry, p.337). An element of focus in the book is the political happenings back at the time not only in the United States of America but also all over the world and how politicians playing politics set the way for perhaps the greatest pandemic in human history to massacre millions of people. The book also takes an evaluator look at the available medical installations and technological proficiencies and how the influenza pandemic has affected medicine all over the world.

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

Influenza, normally called “the flu”, the influenza virus causes an infection in the respiration tract. Even though the influenza virus can sometimes be compared with the common cold. It also can cause a more severe illness or death. During this past century, pandemics took place in 1918, 1957, and 1968, in all of these cases there where unfortunately many deaths. The “Spanish flu” in 1918, killed approximately half a million people in the United States alone. It killed around 20 million worldwide. The “Asian flu” in 1957, in the United States their 70,000 people died. In 1968 the “Hong-Kong flu” There where 34,000 deaths in the United

The 1968 Pandemic was known as the “Hong Kong Flu” and was Influenza strain A(H3N2) and caused 34,000 deaths in the U.S.

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

“It killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. – John Barry

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

The influenza virus has three types: A, B, and C. Seasonal influenza epidemics are typically caused by types A and B, while type C regularly has mild symptoms. Scientists have studied previous years of influenza epidemics and are able to predict the yearly flu season for the United States. In the United States, flu season tends to peak during the winter months. In other climates, such as tropical and subtropical, flu seasons can vary making them harder to predict. Hong Kong has a subtropical climate and commonly has two flu seasons, one from January through March and another from July through August. In addition to these two common flu seasons, Hong Kong can experience flu epidemics at erratic times during

Thus far, the economic impact of swine flu has been very minimal looking at it from a worldwide or general perspective and has limited positive impacts on growth within countries. However, since the disease was recognized in Mexico and had outbreak in the US when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made the first official diagnosis in a child in San Diego on April 14 2009, the US along with a number of other countries became

The Asian flu was first seen in February of 1957 in East Asia, which subsequently spread to countries worldwide. The Asian flu outbreak resulted in an overall estimated death toll of one million to two million people worldwide. The flu was caused by a virus known as influenza A subtype H2N2, which originated from a mutation in wild ducks in response to a pre-existing human strain. In the first months of the 1957 pandemic, the virus spread throughout most of China. By mid-year, it had reached the United States, where it initially only appeared to infect a relatively small group of people. Numerous cases of infection were seen primarily in babies, the elderly, and pregnant women.