Assignment:
Infectious disease and public health.
Defining influenza
How would you define 'Influenza'?
The pandemic of flu that occurred in 1918.
Introduction
According to Open University a lot of people suffered from influenza (flu) at some point in their lives, so when referring to flu you would think oh flu nothing more or nothing less. No worries, well we are so wrong for not educating our self with a pandemic of flu disease. Like the Open University had said that in 1918, a pandemic of flu was immediately following the First World War, and they had confirmed that it had killed up to 50 million people. This disease is known to be very serious diseases. After having confirmed many killings many more died recently in the year 2009 by the virus "swine flu".
I will be talking about the following unit which refer to a case study of influenza that considers a range of topics such as the nature of the virus itself, and also its spread, treatment and diagnosis. Having said that there many other recourse for you to educate yourself on how the activates as in we should describe its course, diagnosis, and treatments in detail; furthermore, we reported this case to emphasize that influenza B virus may cause transient liver dysfunction and it is an etiology of pneumonia as well as ARDS
Background to the case study
Influenza is a myxovirus belonging to the family of viruses known as Orthomyxoviridae. Originally the virus was confined to aquatic birds, but unfortunately it made the transition to humans around in the 6000-9000 years ago. Only because of the coinciding with the rise of farming, and animal husbandry and urbanization also in many studies were changes in human behavior and population density provided the ecological niche that enables influenza as well as many other infectious agents such as the viruses that cause measles and smallpox to move from animals and adapt to a human host. Influenzas is known thaw the UK and then in the USA for being recognized for the correctly identified until the early 1930's. The word Influenza it is derived from an Italian word meaning influence.
Like for example it's known in the twentieth century there were at least five major epidemic of flu that indeed was spread around the world a pandemic, which means for less serious epidemic in most years.
Influenza viruses
Viruses have very diverse genomes. Whereas the genomes of bacteria, plants and animals are of double-stranded DNA, the genomes of viruses can be constituted from either DNA or RNA and may be double- or single-stranded molecules. However when understanding the way in which different viruses replicate is important, since it allows the identification of particular points in their life-cycle that may be susceptible to treatment with antiviral drugs.
Defining influenza
Although the precise role of H. influenza in the 1890 and 1918 flu pandemics is not clear, it is likely that the bacteria were present and acting in concert with the flu virus to produce the pneumonia experienced. Talking about the study of the tidy world of a microbiology or immunology laboratory, scientists typically examine the effect of one infectious agent in producing disease. As they say in the real world, people often become infected with more than one pathogen. Indeed, infection with one agent often lays a person open to infection with another, as immune defenses become overwhelmed.
Influenza infection in humans
Having to following the infection, the influenza virus replicates in the cells lining the host's upper and lower respiratory tract. Virus production peaks 1-2 days later, and virus particles are shed in secretions over the following 3-4 days. Even during this period, the patient is infectious and the symptoms are typically at their most severe. However, there are circumstances where older people may be more resistant to infection than younger people because they may have already encountered the disease (in their youth) and could retain some immunity and so be less susceptible than younger people who have not encountered the disease before. There for in the younger generation is more dangerous to catch this infection to do never having it as to older generation is better off only because the amount system is a lot stronger then the younger generation.
Antiviral treatments
The antiviral treatment has only two main neuraminidase inhibitors currently in clinical use are zanamivir (trade name Relenza) and oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu). These are effective against influenza A and B, but not influenza C which exhibits a different type of neuraminidase activity that only cleaves 9-O-acetylated sialic acid. Some of the main dugs that are being use for the illness are amantadine (trade name Symmetrel) and rimantadine (trade name Flumadine) block this pore, preventing un coating and infection. However, their indiscriminate use in 'over-the-counter' cold remedies and farmed poultry has allowed many strains of influenza to develop resistance. Influenza B has a different type of M2 protein which is largely unaffected by these drugs.
Diagnosis of influenza
Having to diagnosis the influenza has many diseases produce symptoms similar to those of influenza; in fact, 'flu-like' is a term that is frequently used to describe several different illnesses. Since influenza spreads rapidly by airborne transmission and is a life-threatening condition in certain vulnerable groups, it is important that cases of the disease are identified as quickly as possible, so that preventative measures may be taken. Keeping in mind that some practice, the best
Specimens are nasal aspirates or washes, but swabs of the nose or throat may be used if they are taken vigorously enough to obtain cells. Ideally, samples should be taken within three days of the onset of illness, and all specimens need to be preserved in a transport medium and kept chilled until they reach the clinical microbiology laboratory.
Summary
A single pathogen can produce different types of disease in different people. Genetic variation in a pathogen can also affect the type of disease it produces. The symptoms of a particular disease may be produced by different pathogens or by a combination of pathogens. Some diseases, such as flu, affect humans and several other animal species, whereas others are more selective in their host range. Flu is a disease that can be contracted several times during a lifetime, but many other infectious diseases are only ever contracted once. Outbreaks of flu occur regularly, but some epidemics are much more serious than others. This requires an understanding of aspects of virology, immunology, evolutionary biology and epidemiology.
The reason I chooses this case study was because my son was diagnose with the influenza B this Monday 02/01/2016. I never know anything about it, but as I was watching my son from being okay to in minutes having a fever of 106 tempature was so hard breaking to me to realize that it could have been a lot more then what it was.
How did I realize my son had a virus, I didn't I just heard a very different cough from my son, because of that cough I took him to the Doctor and requested days off from work to take care of my son. My son was shaking and being very quiet. This is a very dangerous viruses cause if I wouldn't had follow my motherly instant and had dropped him off at school it would have been a very serious case. Thank God my son is doing okay now.