Influenza Epidemic: A Case Study

I have been a nurse for 23 years. I have given a lot of influenza

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.

This paper will discuss the communicable disease influenza. It will discuss the causes, symptoms, and treatments, as well as the demographics of interest. It will also discuss the determinants of health and how these factors contribute to the development of influenza. Included in this paper will be information on host, agent, and environmental factors. Lastly it will explain the role of the community health nurse in caring for those affected with influenza and the role they play in education and prevention.

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

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “It's estimated that 90 percent of seasonal flu-related deaths and more than 60 percent of seasonal flu-related hospitalizations in the United States each year occur in people 65 years and older “ (2011).The CDC advises that the best way to prevent and control the spread of influenza each year is by the use of vaccinnations. In effort to control and prevent influenza epidemics, the CDC uses the epidemiological process to predict the strain of the virus that will be most relevant to the population and this data is used to formulate influenza vaccinations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).

Seasonal influenza is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the industrialized world. The United States alone averages more than 23,000 influenza-associated deaths annually (Cortes-Penfield, 2014). Everyone is given the option to receive the flu vaccination each year. The vaccine is offered in health care facilities, clinics, and pharmacies around

No matter the technical, or medical advances that evolved over the years, nevertheless if an outbreak as powerful as the Influenza was to occur again in the United States it would still be just as bad as the first epidemic. With the first epidemic being massive enough to take out an estimate of fifty to an hundred thousand people in the matter of months, compared to the other epidemics that were just as harmful, but fatalities were not as high as the Influenza. Being aware of this

Many cities and countries would also encourage or require their citizens to wear masks in order to protect themselves from the airborne slayer however; since the illness was a virus the masks were relatively ineffective at preventing the spread. If this epidemic would have been a bacterial outbreak these methods would have been much more efficient at controlling the disease but unfortunately the influenza persisted. Many people were critical of the health official’s incompetence when trying to handle the outbreak as they struggled to find any sort of cure which lead some to take matters into their own hands. Many citizens began to brew their own home remedies and often used Vapo-Rubs, belladonna, and other things such as water, salt and coal oil.1 These home remedies were not adequate solutions to the problem but physicians were not having much more luck with their treatment that consisted of them causing “patients to sweat by wrapping them in blankets or cupping them to remove excess

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

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

For lack of better words “Influenza is a nasty little bugger”, it can make you sick for up to a week and it leaves its victim lying in bed until their better; but nowadays we can get a simple vaccine to keep this pest at bay, but back in the day it wasn't this simple. Influenza spreads very fast, that hasn't changed, but how we deal with it has. When influenza was first a major problem spreading from an Asian to a European environment it had many opportunities to continue spreading, and it did. This was because of the many trade routes in the areas, and the growing population in both areas. Influenza continued its expansion by making the host cough and sneeze spreading it through the air. Influenza was not a unique pandemic, but many others

The influenza pandemic of 1918 had not only altered the lives of thousands, but the habitual lives of family and work as well. The Spanish Influenza collected more lives than all of the casualties of war in the twentieth century combined. After the disease had swept through the nation, towns that once began their days in lazy, comfortable manners had begun to struggle to get through a single day. What started as a mild neglect of a typical fever or case of chills had escalated and grown at an alarmingly rapid rate to be fearsome and tragic.

The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic was a historical event that has left an impact on healthcare. Influenza is a life threatening illness caused by influenza virus. It is a contagious disease of the respiratory tract cause serious infection and death around the globe, especially in winter months. There are three different types of influenza viruses, type A, B and C. Influenza A is responsible for influenza pandemic (Australian Government Department of Health, 2015). The 1918, Spanish influenza was a deadly pandemic, infected an estimated 500 million people globally and killed 50 to 100 million of them in three waves. Pandemic began in the United Sates in March 1918 in a crowded army camp in Fort Riley, Kansas. The second wave struck lethally

Influenza virus infection (IVI) is one of global health issues which causes excessive lung inflammation in both upper and lower respiratory tract. Seasonal IVI causes significant morbidity and mortality to infants, elderly and immunocompromised people despite of annual vaccination. IVI also increases the susceptibility to secondary bacterial co-infection, lung injury, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Current therapeutic strategies of IVI are focusing on inhibition of viral replication, membrane fusion and viral gene expression. Despite of several decades' efforts, there was no breakthrough in IVI therapeutics and therapeutic strategies. Therefore, novel approaches are in necessary to discover new IVI therapeutic candidates.

Despite vaccinations being credited for the control and elimination of several childhood diseases, there are still many critics who raise concerns about the necessity of vaccination. In a national study of parents performed in 2000, 19% indicated they had “concerns about vaccines” whereas in a subsequent survey performed in 2009 this number had risen to 50%. There has also been a rise in non-medical vaccine exemptions that has occurred over the last several years. In a 2010 national survey of physicians, 89% of respondents reported at least one vaccine refusal by a parent each month (Dempsey & Gowda, 2013). Opposers argue that making school vaccination mandatory is against their right to make personal medical decisions. They feel that the government has no place to force parents to vaccinate their children if the parents decide it is not in their child’s best interest. Many parents are disagreeable about the multiple vaccinations received at one time, which results in possible pain and discomfort for the child. Another argument against vaccination is the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Critics are concerned about the unknown risks vaccines pose to children. Some parents noted their child acquiring a “high fever” or beginning to “act different” after the administration of a vaccine. There is a belief that there is a connection between the measles vaccination and autism. Another theory is that the influenza