Vaccination is the single most important step people can take to protect themselves from influenza stated Frieden. Thomas R. Frieden was the former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director and his knowledge on diseases have saved millions of lives therefore his advice must be taken seriously in a never-decreasing population. To understand the importance to protect ourselves we must first understand this imminent danger lurking in our daily lives. Influenza is also known as the flu, and its main target is the respiratory tract. Influenza can cause symptoms that can include but are not limited to fever, cough, sore throat, headaches, muscle pain and nasal congestion. (Reference 3) More serious symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhea and nausea which is never a fun activity to go through. Incubation periods are referred to the first four days when these symptoms are starting to show signs and when these days progress with no treatment it will become contagious. This virus now becomes able to spread because it has become infectious to other people. Reaching various age groups and a wide span of people it becomes dangerous when everyone around becomes sick, some can become severely sick and can even cause death. Influenza can be broken down into different categories. (Reference 3) This disease had the power to end the lives of millions of people centuries ago. Although this might seem scary there are vaccinations in today’s age of medicine that will help protect from each type and changed the world as we knew it.
Some backstory on this virus is that it was first studied around 412 B.C. by a man called Hippocrates and put all this information in “Book of Epidemics”. Astonishing to believe roughly 2,400 years ago he had already begun to describe the symptoms associated with influenzas and scholars believe that its origin can be traced all the way back to Greece which is today’s area now known as Turkey. Real studies on the virus itself could not have been conducted with the limited amount of resources people had around that era. It wasn’t until the 1500s that a series of documents would prove a sickness was influenza. Influenza would soon find a gateway to spread from parts of Asia to Russia, from Europe to Africa and realistically reach each corner of the Earth solely because technology back then was never able to pinpoint and quickly come up with a solution like today. Around that same time period a “new world” had just been discovered. The Americas would soon find itself trading their unique foods with that of the rest of the world, and within the ships would host cattle like pigs and cattle. And as now know some sicknesses would spread worldwide due to the Colombian exchange. The only issue is influenza isn’t fully known that the illness was transmitted through that or if the Americas had already had it. But it wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea that the Columbian exchange had a huge role in it. As previously discussed, there isn’t just one type of influenza.
The influenza virus contains four types know as A, B, C and D which are its scientific names that will make four out the seven genera that stem from the family Orthomyxoviridae. A virus is much more difficult to contain compared to a bacterial infection, so it is not so hard to see why to contain it previously was complicated especially with the lack of resources. This virus is made of a spherical envelope, which has glycoproteins and a single strand of RNA which will attack epithelial cells of the nose, throat and therefore the respiratory system. Its glycoprotein layers end up binding with a specific protein as its host cell. Thru replication and then binding to other cells the spreading causes the infection. Type C is the least severe of the four, so most people will be able to fight the illness with no help. Type D is not very well known, mostly because it doesn’t affect humans it targets animals instead, like cattle and pigs. Influenza A happens mostly in humans but can enter into animals as well. With type A having subtypes it is broken up into glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) antigens which are located on the virus’s envelope surface. (Reference 3) Its virulence factors like glycoproteins that work as the antigens and hemagglutinin works to bind the cell finally neuraminidase that will help to release the virus. (Reference 4) What (HA) does is it will bind to the cell surface receptors and activating fusion of the host cell membrane and dumping the viral genome into the host cell. Then (NA) will cleave sialic acid to release the virus and degrade the protective mucus layer of the epithelial tract to enhance the ability of the virus to reach these cells. The two types of influenza that clinically affect humans are type A and B. These types just love to infect a human and is what will cause seasonal epidemics and pandemics. But the most dangerous type is A. They cause more serious symptoms for example variant type A would be H1N1. Nicknamed the swine flu or Spanish influenza the first serious outbreak was in 1918. This virus took the lives of an estimated 21 million people. Now the question still remains, what is the differences between epidemic and pandemic?
The term, epidemic, defines as an outbreak of an infectious disease in a population at a specific time period. The time period for influenza is usually November through April in the northern hemisphere. And since the seasons are opposite for the southern hemisphere it will be around May through October. Recently, there hasn’t been a pandemic in today’s society. The definition of pandemics is a severe global epidemic that occurs when a new subtype of influenza arises because of a major shift in the proteins of the virus. This mostly happens when a type that targets animals more enters a human and really affects our system because of the lack of immunity. The last dated pandemic was in 2009, a subtype of type A had reached parts of Mexico. From Mexico the next location this virus ended up in was in the United States. Classified as H1N1 this pandemic lasted from 2009 to August 2010 the following year thanks to the help in technology. (Reference 4) Who really is safe from this virus though?
Now that we can understand what influenza is and its different classes it is put in, surely there must be some people that are unharmed by it. Now although it would be nice to have a golden year where you are immune to this disease, no one is 100% safe without a vaccine but there are some ages that this illness will affect more. Most people will be affected the most if they are infants, elderly, pregnant women, or people with an autoimmune disease which means their bodies are unable to fight an infection effectively and will have a hard time doing so. Influenza infects about one billion people and about 500,000 die from the virus each year, stated by the World Health Organization. (Reference 3). As previously described by the fact that this virus is contagious, it can be spread by coughing or sneezing. Influenza is known as the flu, something that most of society understands when someone is usually ill. No prescription is usually needed from a doctor and over the counter methods can prove to be very effective in feeling better. But if there are symptoms that are pushing the body to the extreme for example an extremely high fever usually a clinical test will determine if it is influenza or something else. Some of these tests include a respiratory sample, which tests for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), rapid antigen test or immunofluorescence assay to see if the virus is present or a simple nasal swab is done. (Reference 3). Okay great, now it has become clear after these tests that the results came back positive for influenza, what’s next?
Treatment is needed in order for the body to return to equilibrium. There are a few treatments available and it all depends on how severe the illness is. A mild to moderate infection will need an antipyretic and since it has become infectious it is recommended to let the body rest for a minimum of 24 hours to limit the chance of infecting others. Lots of fluids are usually what the doctors tell their patients to do just to keep them hydrated and helps the body keep on the fight. But what happens if it’s over moderate? If it’s serious the patient should find hospitalization as soon as possible. Since it has become clear the body cannot fight the virus by itself, an antiviral drug is used to help to fight. The keyword is “help” reason being is because unlike antibiotics it cannot kill the virus, they inhibit it instead. Some antiviral drugs used to fight influenza include; Rimantadine, Zanamivir, and Favipirabir (Reference 2). To avoid the chances of getting this sick, health hygiene is heavily encouraged. Washing hands frequently and yearly vaccinations can help reduce the control the chance of getting influenza.
Yearly vaccinations are important. And although these vaccines vary in different parts of the world they have to be modified because of the different strains that will appear and its mutations that can be different from a different region. These vaccines aren’t always the same recipe in a sense. It has to be changed every year to include these mutations and strains. In a way envision that the vaccine is a circle shape to get through a circle hole, through mutations it might become a different shape like a triangle for instance. Therefore, by making the vaccine a triangle it can optimize its efficiency to prevent people from sickness by always keeping up to what the virus can change into. In reality it is antibodies that are in vaccines that are the real-life savers, in small amounts the body is able to fight it easily and create an immunity to them. Since this virus is able to infect anyone, it is important to always get vaccinated. The minimum age to get a vaccine is 6 months since babies need time for their immune system to be effective on intruders. It is recommended people in the Northern hemisphere to get a vaccine around February time. And therefore, it should be September for the Southern hemisphere. The current vaccine today is called a trivalent vaccine, because it contains the three common strains such as H1N1 (type A), H3N2 (type A), and type B (Reference 1).
Today, there isn’t news of 20 million people dying in a span of a year from influenza, and we can thank modern medicine for that. Scientists that devote their lives to find a cure and work constantly to learn how viruses operate and what their weaknesses are helping to create new vaccines. When the pandemic of H1N1 hit many people were scared, and although it was a tough time, the ability to come out with a vaccine for it in within a year was beneficial for millions of lives. Without a doubt it if would have happened with no treatment whatsoever, the death toll could have been compared to that from the first Spanish flu in the 1900s. By spreading more awareness of the importance of vaccines and the importance of good hygiene, millions of more lives can be prevented from being lost. This virus is successful in causing disease because of the ease of transmission from just daily activities. Good hygiene doesn’t necessarily mean to become a germaphobe. Something as small as using your elbow to cover your sneezing is effective from spreading illness. Washing your hands before a meal and especially if you are serving the food. Life is beautiful, and we must live our lives to the complete fullest, the more we talk about spreading infections the better the world becomes from actually catching them in the first place. Many of us when we get sick pay no real attention to the reality our bodies go through to fight it. The human body never has a rest day in protecting us so why can’t we help as well? I choose this disease because I feel it might be misunderstood. Something as little as the sniffles could be a lot worse if we didn’t have all these scientists studying it.
