National Influenza Immunization Program - The Swine Flu of 1976

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.

The book “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, written by John M. Barry, covers the progression of the Spanish influenza, especially in the United States. Barry focuses not only on the influenza itself, though, but also on the social influences that allowed the virus to flourish. The book covers how medical practices in the United States had risen up just in time to combat the virus, but, due to societal issues and the war, the doctors struggled in areas where they should have been successful.

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.

Influenza is an infectious illness that can be spread from one individual to the next. It can be transmitted by means of saliva, nasal secretions, feces and blood. It can also be spread by coming in contact with the virus on contaminated surfaces. Influenza is responsible for an average of 36,000 deaths and for more than 226,000 hospitalizations each year in the United States. (Davidson, 2007-2009, Davis, 2007).

First of all, the name “Influenza” is derived from the Latin word for “influence”, and it is an infectious disease that is caused by the RNA viruses from the Orthomyxoviridae family:

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.

There are there types of influenza A and C or the most severe types and B which is the most common, Luckily not the to severe. The virus works by first attaching to the outside of a host cell. It injects its RNA into the cell. Unfortunately our cells treat the RNA like they should. It translates the viral genes using the cell’s ribosomes and enzymes. Now the virus can take the cell over and use it to reproduce more viruses. Sooner or later it releases the new nauseating viruses and they search for another cell to raid.

The influenza was a surprise to the world. It spread across the world in a matter of months infecting millions of people. At first they thought it was a common cold but then more symptoms arose like fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, congestion, runny nose, headaches, and fatigue. The symptoms progressed into pneumonia and that killed most of the infected. The more people that got infected or died made it harder to work on the vaccination to help the disease to slow down and

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

Infected patients pursue help from their doctors pleading for remedy for their symptom. In turn, doctors had no cure or ways to subdue the patients’ symptoms; thus, it result-ed in getting the doctor themselves falling ill to the influenza. At time, the infected patients felt inflamed and burned with thirst. This resulted the plague victims to plunge themselves in cold water, or throwing themselves in rain tanks to ease the burning sensation . The 1918 influenza produced an unusually high proportion of cases that developed pneumonia, especially in young people. Normally, influenza causes only mild illness in young adults. In 2009 during the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus in the population worldwide suggests that a large portion of the population now have defensive antibodies against the 1918 virus, greatly lessening fear and un-certainties regarding the exposure of the 1918 virus. Nevertheless, study exhibit that this virus could be used not only to understand how to prevent and treat severe influenza virus infections but also to create a biochemical agent

The virus starts by getting a host cell and either uses it right away then kills it or kills right away usually they use it first. When the virus invades a body, It collides with the cell that spicks and propherances then they brush against each other and it if they fit together become one. The viruses is also able to hide from the immune system therefore avoiding being killed so it can reproduce. Then the virus gains control of a cell by injecting its genes into the cell and makes it do whatever it wants for the benefits of the virus not the cell. Of course while you have a cell doing the dirty work for you. The viruses make is own offspring/ copies of itself and takes of over and invading surrounding cells.

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

Virions consist of a lipid membrane (envelope) derived from the host cell with glycoproteins (spikes) on the top of it. There are two types of glycoproteins in Influenza A and Influenza B viruses – neuraminidase (NA) and hemagglutinin (HA). These spikes can reach the

“Dock described a 42-year-old woman with "myelogenous leukemia" that went into remission after a presumed influenza infection. The report was made in 1896; 37 years before it was determined that influenza was a virus infection. The woman had a greatly enlarged liver and spleen, which shrank to nearly normal size, and a grossly elevated leukocyte count, which dropped more than 70-fold after the infection.” (Elizabeth Kelly and Stephen J Russell, 13 February 2007)

With this being a mutation of the influenza virus it has an envelope this makes it easier for the virus to infect the cell. It does attaches its envelope to the cell to makes the cell think that is part of it so it lets the virus in. The virus is then disassembled the RNA (ribonucleic acid) becomes available for transcription. The host cell then takes the RNA and uses it for transcription making it TRNA (Transcription ribonucleic acid). Which the nucleus then uses to manufacture the virus proteins and viral RNA and other proteins for binding the outer layer of the cell to the virus. This then lets the virus have an envelope the cell manufacters so many viruses that essentially the cell explodes shooting the virus into nearby cells to restart the process. this would cause a virulence issue as the virulence would be around 65% cell death if infected as some cells would explode, others would slowly seep the virus out of