Severe Respiratory Syndrome: First Pandemic Of The 21st Century

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) causes acute respiratory tract infection in patients of all ages and is one of the most popular diseases of childhood. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, which manifests primarily as bronchiolitis and/or viral pneumonia, is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract (LRT) infection in infants and young children. RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lungs) and pneumonia in children under one year of age in the United States. During the first year of life, most infants are infected with the virus. Most RSV infected children encounter

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has a seasonal and yearly incidence, usually between November and April. It is responsible for high infant morbidity and mortality worldwide.. By the first year of life, 60% of children are infected, and almost 100% are infected by 2 years of age. (Saso,&Kampmann,2016). The more common age for hospitalizations occur between 2-3 months of age, and is the leading cause of infants being hospitalized in the developed world, accounting for 2 % of admissions during the winter season. (geerdink,Pillay,Meyalard,2015). The natural RSV infection in those younger than 6 months does not adequately develop a long-lasting immunological response, making reoccurrence of infection likely to reoccur. RSV is an infection that causes cold-like illness that can also cause otitis media, rhinitis, bronchitis, croup, and, pneumonia. Although RSV can cause different reactions, Bronchiolitis is the most common form of occurrence in the pediatric population. This virus is very caustic to the respiratory lining for vulnerable infants, that it increases the risk for respiratory diseases in later years of childhood.

Many people take breathing for granted, some never give it a second thought until a problem presents itself. Respiratory diseases affect millions of Americans as well as people from all over the world. Anyone can suffer from these disorders to include men, women, and children, with conditions ranging from mild, moderate, to chronic in nature. This paper will focus on one of the many respiratory disease called mycobacterium tuberculosis; more commonly referred to as TB.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a severe acute respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus named MERS-CoV. It is believed that the virus is found in camels and passed on to humans who are in contact or around infected animal. These camels are mainly located in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia (WHO, 2015a). Those infected with MERS exhibit fever, cough, and shortness of breath, pneumonia, and diarrhea. Severe cases require patient to be put on mechanical ventilation or in an intensive care unit. It is also known to cause kidney failure and septic shock. The elderly, persons who are immunosuppressed, those who

In September of 2012, beginning in the country of Saudi Arabia, hospitals began seeing increased cases of a respiratory virus never before seen in humans. They named it Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS. MERS is a viral respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. It was originally thought to have started there in Saudi Arabia. It was not until later that they were able to trace the origin back to Jordan starting in April of 2012. All outbreaks of MERS have been traced back to originating from the Arabian Peninsula (CDC, 2015a). Unfortunately, it is not known exactly how MERS was contracted in humans, but it is believed to have come from an animal source, probably from camels. Strains of MERS

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is considered the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in infants and young children. Each year, 4-5 million children younger than 4 years acquire an RSV infection, and more than 125,000 are hospitalized annually in the United States because of this infection. (Medscape, 2016).

Because of the uncertainties and evolving nature of infectious diseases, outbreaks can cause substantial fear in communities and in the general public. Such is the case with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003. It was the first serious infectious disease of the twenty first century and questions about its origin and treatment greatly outnumbered the answers.

At the first possible outbreak of SARS, the nurse will need to follow protocol. The initiation of the protocol begins with an assessment of the patient. A doctor will determine if the patient is possibly infected with SARS by following the physical and epidemiologic criteria. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention mandates reporting to the all cases where the patient has pneumonia of an unknown origin, and could have recently been exposed of the SARS virus [ (Center of Disease Control, 2005) ]. Once the report has been made the community health nurse should have all hospitalized patients with respiratory symptoms questioned on their recent history and possibilities of contact with the virus. Next, the community health nurse needs to educate staff and the community about possible ways to contract SARS, and encourage behaviors such as, frequent hand washing, covering their nose and mouth while coughing or sneezing, and using and properly disposing of tissues for respiratory secretions. [ (Center of Disease Control, 2005) ] Once health care members and the public are educated on the route of transmission they can prevent being exposed. Confirmed infected patients would be transferred to Seattle, where they can be in isolation rooms, patients can be more critically monitored, and research centers can be of benefit to

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

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

A severe pneumonia-like virus suddenly appeared in February 2003 in Hanoi of the Guangdong providence in Southern China, and rapidly spread to thirty countries, infecting 8,098 people and killing more than 774 in a matter of months [3]. Investigations identified a Chlmydia-like organism using electron microscopy in patients who had died from this atypical pneumonia, however this could not be confirmed as the disease, as it was not seen in other patients outside China [3]. After a global collaboration, researchers identified the etiologic agent of this atypical pneumonia to be a coronoavirus, known known as SARS-CoV [3]. The disease was eventually

“We have seen SARS stopped dead in its tracks.” (Gro Harlem Brundtland). Brundtland said this because SARS, an infectious disease, has been cured and no longer exist. An infectious disease is a disorder caused by organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. SARS is a viral respiratory illness caused by coronavirus. A coronavirus is a virus majority of humans get sometime in their lifetime. SARS is very rare since it has been eliminated and has not been spotted since 2004.

According to the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (2014), the first incident of MERS-Cov was reported from Saudi Arabia in June 2012. Recent reports from The World Health Organization as of May 13 indicated 1,180 confirmed cases within 25 countries, and a total of 483 deaths have been recorded thus far. At this point MERS-Cov has a 40% mortality rate that continues to rise as the death toll increases from new infectious cases. It has been confirmed that all cases that were reported to WHO outside of the Middle East have had a history of recent travel to that region or have been in contact with a person who has travelled to this part of the world. It is because of this that surveillance and control measure in response to this fatal virus should be created and implemented to eradicate MERS-CoV from spreading to different regions of the world for future pilgrimage (Zumla, Hui, & Perlman 2015).

The earth as a whole is pretty stable; lives on earth remain relatively safe, growing and increasing in population every day. Diseases and sickness comes to play now and then, but, for the most part, affect the poor and undeveloped countries most heavy; developed countries like the U.S.A. have solutions and vaccine for diseases and thus fear of sickness do not arise often. However, when they do, it is can become a pandemic, a massive widespread of hazardous disease that potentially threatens the human population. To prevent epidemics, countries formed the World Health Organization (WHO) to create the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) to help announce an event of an extreme health hazard that spread (or is spreading) internationally and need international coalition to cure or resolve. There are multiple phrases to pandemic before the PHEIC happens. To explore the phases of a pandemic and when a PHEIC occur, I carried out simulation through a game called Pandemic II to evaluate the phases and the reaction of the world and WHO.